Frost Giants
by crazyrapunzel
Summary: These storms that gathered around the world were not natural. It wasn't her. It was THEM. Frost Giants would come for war.
1. Chapter 1: a storm is coming

**Chapter one: a storm is coming**

'So you will get a test next week about this. Write that down. If you did, you can all go.'

Mr. Balder laid down the chalk and turned back to his desk. Most students were already out of their seats, heading for the door. Jenny stood up from her chair and looked at her friend. 'Let's go, the others will probably already be waiting.' Her friend, Sarah stood up as well. 'You're in a rush today. Something going on?' she teased. She knew Jenny was seeing a guy and would go to him after school. Jenny rolled with her eyes. 'You are so annoying. Come on!'

They both walked down the staircases of their high school. It was their last year and exams were coming up. Sarah and Jenny were best friends. Together with some others they held a very strong friendship bond. They have been together since the first year of high school, except for Jenny, who Sarah already knew since preschool. These seventeen years of her life had been wonderful so far.

Downstairs they were waiting on the two. Jenny hurried to her locker but as usual Sarah was done sooner. She walked over to the others. 'So it's like five degrees cooler,' Kristen just said. 'Really?' Sarah asked pulling up an eyebrow. She turned around to face her. 'Yeah. You shall see when we go outside.'

And cold it was indeed. Once Jenny was done they walked outside and cool it was. It was already half march but it felt like December. Jenny shivered and looked disappointed. 'There goes my idea of a nice walk in the woods. Better stay inside.' Everyone was already wearing spring jackets so most were rubbing their arms and clouds of breathing were visible. Kristen looked over at Sarah. 'Sarah, aren't you freezing?' Now everyone was looking at her. She looked down and noticed she only wore a thin vest today. She started hugging herself for warmth. 'Yeah I am. Let's go home.' She walked quickly to her bicycle. Not because the cold, but because she didn't like this attention.

At home she fell on the couch. Sarah's little sister, Miley was watching the new Disney movie Frozen. Not really interested she joined her watching it. Sometimes she would glance outside.

_What an odd storm. Nothing for this time of the year. _She looked at her sister that only focused on the TV. She looked at her hands. _It can't be me. I didn't do this…right?_

She shook her head. She wouldn't even know how to do something this big. She looked back at the movie. The character Elsa was singing her song _let it go. _'The cold never bothered me anyway,' she sung. Sarah chuckled at that.


	2. Chapter 2: SHIELD

**Chapter two: S.H.I.E.L.D.**

The next day the weather didn't change. It was still very chilly. The weather man told he had no idea how this is possible for this time of the year. Once at school everything went normal. Everyone was talking about the weather and how they suspected that maybe even snow would fall. After the first three classes Sarah headed down the stairs to meet up with her friends. Only Simon was not there yet. 'Hey guys,' she greeted. She noticed that they were all wearing sweaters again. 'Hey Sarah. Weird day isn't it? Really, it is no time at all for this storm. I hate it,' Jenny started complaining. Sarah pointed her finger playfully at her. 'Isn't this better? Don't you like a little snuggle weather?' Jenny turned a little red. 'Shut up,' she said with a laugh.

Then Simon walked in from the main hall. 'Hey what a circus there huh?' he pointed were he came from. 'What do you mean?' Kristen asked. He looked at her. 'Oh you haven't seen it yet? Some people dressed up in black suits and all are there.'

It took two seconds for the fear to sink in by Sarah. Her heart started beating very fast. 'What? Why are they here? What are they doing?'

Simon looked over at her, a little confused. 'Don't know. But they are talking to the head of the school. I heard they are looking for someone. Guess they ask permission now. Why do you ask? You seem stressed.'

Now everyone focused on Sarah. She tried to think quick. There was no other choice but involve them. She opened her eyes from the thinking and looked around in the confused faces. 'Okay listen to me. They are looking for me. But they can't find me. These people will only hurt me. Now, I have to go and hide myself. They will probably know you are my friends so they will ask where I am. Tell them I was sick today and didn't show up at school. Whatever you do, lie to them.'

They were all paralyzed. Jenny shook out of it. 'What if they know you aren't at home?'

'Tell them you don't know where I am. That I ditched today. Please, do this for me.'

She looked anxious at the main hall. 'All right, but I want to hear what this is about later,' Jenny said. Sarah shook shortly and rusted towards the lady's restroom. She hid herself in the last one.

As she predicted the people walked in a straight line towards her friends. The man leading was quite small and didn't have a lot of hair left. He looked of middle age with a friendly yet deadly smile on his face. Anything about him seemed a secret. The other man was taller and younger. He had short black hair and a trained body. The other person was a young woman with long brown wavy hair. They turned to Jenny and the others.

'Hello,' the man in the middle started. The friends looked at each other first before Kristen answered. 'Hello. Who are you?' The man started smiling but he didn't show his teeth. 'My name is agent Coulson. These are agent Ward and Skye. We are looking for a friend of yours, Sarah Frostblossom. Is she present?'

'No. She told us she stayed home today. Guess she is sick,' Kristen said.

Agent Ward and Skye shared a look for a second. 'We asked her mother and she says she went to school today,' Ward said harsh. Kristen looked at Simon and Jenny. 'That's weird. Well she hasn't been here all day. I guess she is ditching then. I have no idea where she could be.' The others nodded in agreement. Coulson looked down for a second. 'All right then. Here you have our cart. When she returns please call us.'

'Are you going to hurt her?' Jenny blurted out. Coulson saw the fear in her eyes for her friend. He smiled again. 'No, we want to help her. She has been running from us forever but she never really listened to us. We only want to help her. Tell her that please.' The friends nodded. 'Alright, thank you for your time,' Coulson said and turned around with the others to leave. Simon looked at them until they disappeared from the school. Then they headed towards the restrooms. Jenny knocked on the door. 'occupied,' Sarah said.

'Sarah it's us. They already left.'

Sarah opened the door. Her eyes were wide open, inspecting the space for agents. 'What did they say?' Sarah asked. 'They were indeed looking for you. They said they wanted to help you and that you never listened to them,' said Kristen. Sarah groaned. 'How do they find me every time?'

Sarah was heading towards the door to leave. 'Wait! You need to explain this!' Jenny jelled.

Sarah let her forehead lean against the door. 'I can't. I try to protect you. If I tell you, these people will also be behind you. I don't want you to end up being one of them…' She swallowed.

'They said they would not hurt you,' Jenny said. Sarah started to laugh. 'Sure. Imagine them saying: yeah sure we will torture your friend. Now tell us where she is, okay?'

They did not laugh or grin. 'Are you in danger?' Jenny asked with a little voice.

Sarah looked in her eyes. 'You better stay away from me these days. Do not question if I leave for some time. Just, act like nothing happened. Then they would leave you alone.' They nodded and remained quiet. 'I'm sorry,' Sarah whispered. Then she left the restrooms and the school. Jenny and Kristen walked back to the others. 'Who would want to hurt her?' Simon asked. Kristen looked down at the cart in her hand. 'S.H.I.E.L.D. would.'

Sarah tried to get home. Only when she walked in the street she saw the black van in front of her house. 'Damn shield!' She turned around and took a walk in the forest that was close to her house. It was slowly getting dark. She had picked up some food earlier and ate it. Then she called her home. Her mom answered the phone.

'_Hello?' _

'Hello mom, it's me. I have a project to work on with Jenny so I will be sleeping there tonight, okay?'

'_Sure sweetheart. Good luck with the project.' _

'Thanks. Bye.'

She was a 100 percent sure shield was listening in. She only hoped they wouldn't bother Jenny. After the phone call she walked to the other side of the forest and settled on a bench. There was a very thin layer of ice in it. 'Not like it bothers me,' she said to herself. She tried to sleep a little.

_Things are really gonna change now. And not on a positive way._


	3. Chapter 3: Tony Stark

**Chapter three: Tony Stark**

The next day she didn't really know what to do, so she tried to go to her school again. She bought a vest with hoodie to cover her face and walked in the school. There were no obvious shield agents or vehicles to be seen. She really hoped they would drop this hunt.

But she knew they wouldn't.

She walked in her English class. No one of her friend group was in this class, so the only weird glances were from the people that thought she looked like a wreck. And she did. Dark circles formed under her eyes and her clothes were dirty from the night in the woods. She sat down next to a friendly girl she knew a little. 'Are you okay?' she asked. Sarah nodded and tried to smile convincing. The class started and everything seemed normal for about 30 minutes. Then there was a knock on the door. Only that already alarmed her so she ducked under her table.

'What are you doing?' the girl asked. 'Dropped a pencil,' she answered quickly. The door opened and a man stepped in. He was quite young with black hair and a styled moustache and beard. Despite the cold outside he only wore a shirt. The weird thing about the shirt was the blue shining circle in the middle of his chest. 'OMG! Tony Stark!' A girl screamed. He smiled at her and walked over to the desk of the teacher. This was her chance. She crawled under the tables toward the door. She made it without being seen and started running. 'Hello, I'm looking for a girl named Sarah Frostblossom. Is she here?' Everyone looked at the spot where she sat a moment ago. Through the window Tony saw her running in the hallway. 'Shit,' he murmured. He started after her.

Sarah jumped down the staircases as fast as she could. On the first floor she took another way through the theater that leads to the gym. From there she took the stairs down to the hall with the music classes. She ran in the class where people of her year were. They all looked at the confused gasping girl that looked around. 'Sarah, what are you doing here?' asked the teacher. She looked at him. 'I need to hide here. Someone is chasing me. Whatever you do, please do not say I'm in here.'

She ducked over the piano and a row of tables to hide in the corner on the floor, behind the piano under a table. They all froze as they watched her. 'Go on with the class!' she screamed. The teacher started his lecture again. After not even three minutes someone came in the class. She could not face him from here.

'Hello, can I help you?' the teacher asked.

'Yes, I am looking for a girl named Sarah. Is she here?' Tony replied. The teacher pulled up an eyebrow. 'No, she doesn't follow music lessons anymore. I have no idea where she is.'

Tony started to walk around him and the piano toward the students. He looked carefully at everyone. 'I know you're here Sarah,' he said in a clear voice. It made a shiver going down her back. 'Please, I am not your enemy. I understand things have been…weird for you. I know why you run. But shield is not wanting to capture you. We need your help.'

This confused her. Why would they need her help? She looked up. Tony could see her from where he stood but he was turned around. 'I guess you have noticed this odd...thing. You know it's not natural. You know who can create this. That's why we need you. Please, if you don't want us to help you, then help us.'

She thought about it for a moment. She knew this storm was not natural. Maybe she could help. But, did that really mean what she thought? Were they here? Only then she realized it had been quiet for a while and she looked up to see Tony looking at her. She raised from her hiding spot. She looked like a monster: ripped clothing, pale face with dark eyes and a chest that moved quickly from the running.

'They did this?' she asked. Tony looked down. 'We are not sure. We hope you could tell us more about this.'

She chuckled short. 'So, you want me to work for shield? That's all you people want! You want to be so strong that no one can face you. Now they even have you working for them. Tell me, what did you leave behind to work for them? Did you need to kill someone that you told about them? That stupid shield and all its secrets! I damn hate shield! Why should I work for them!'

The temperature in the room was lowering. Sarah was getting so angry she didn't think anymore. All the students were looking at her, confused and scared. She didn't look like herself.

'Sarah, please. We should take this conversation somewhere else. These people…'

'SHUT UP STARK!' she shouted back. 'You have no idea what they stole from me! They stole the only person that understood me! The only person I ever loved so much! The only one I could totally be myself with! Then one day shield came, she joined them and I have never heard of her again! You stole my niece, Feya!'

Tony looked at her with shock. 'Feya Iglea is your niece? So that makes her…'

'The same as I am!' She shouted. Now was her limit. She grew in length as her skin turned blue. Textures formed on her skin. Her eyes turned piercing red.

She turned into her true form. Sarah is a Frost Giant.

She threw Tony back with a ice ray coming from her hands. She screamed a war battle. The shock of the students turned into true terror. They screamed and cried of fear as they started running towards the door. Sarah looked at her once friends run away from her. It shocked her so much she immediately turned back normal. Tony got back up his feet and stumbled back to the girl. 'Please, you need us. And we need you.' She turned to face him. The tears stood in her eyes.

'I lost everything,' she whispered. She laid her head against his chest and started sobbing. He putted a hand on her hand and petted her gently. 'I'm so sorry,' he whispered back. She let go of him and started to walk to the door. Tony was afraid she would run again. But she stopped without facing him. 'Are you coming?'

Tony held his hand on her shoulder as they headed toward the main hall. There the whole school gathered. Teachers were pushing everyone back. Everyone turned quiet when Tony and Sarah walked in. Some gasped, some whispered. One guy shouted 'Iron man!' Sarah dared looking up to see the people she just scared and her friends staring at her. She tilted her head up and looked all of them in the eyes.

'I'm sorry.'

Then she turned around and they walked out of the school. Tony did not talk, and she could appreciate it. At the parking lot was one car she would surely have noticed before if it would be there. It was a shiny red Chevrolet corvette. In front of it was a familiar face. He smiled that annoying classified smile when she approached.

'Good to see you again Sarah,' Coulson said.

'Shut up Coulson. Destroying my life is not something you should be proud of. Now, I'm here to help with the storm problem, not to work for shield. Do I make myself clear?'

'Very clear Miss Frostblossom. Shall we?'

They stepped into the car. 'A little chilly for this weather, isn't it?' she joked. Like she would ever be cold. Without responding Coulson pushed the button to make the roof appear. They drove away. Away from her school, away from her life of these past seventeen years. It was the best life she created so far. And it's all over. She closed her eyes, sighed and opened them again. Now, up to the future. Or the sky? The car started lifting from the ground into the air.

'Jeez Coulson! You could have told me this damn thing could fly! At least now I found one reason why you would drive such a thing,' Tony complained. Coulson smiled. 'How else to get on the plane?'


	4. Chapter 4: other outstanders

**Chapter four: other out standers**

The car was picked up by a big plane. They didn't stay long aboard. Only had she time to be introduced to Coulson's personal team of agents. A very strange group of people, but clearly capable of a lot when they worked together. They were picked up with a small airplane that brought them to a huge flying base. She walked inside behind Coulson and Stark toward the control room. The total front was window so a lot of light was coming in. There was a large oval table in the middle. Before she could see the people there she was faced by a huge man. He was only wearing black, even his eye patch was black. She recognized him from descriptions.

'Sarah Frostblossom, I'm really happy to see you. Director Fury,' he said with a dark voice.

She shook his hand. 'Director huh? So basically you are the one chasing me for all these years?'

He didn't respond. 'I would like to introduce you to some people. These are…' He gestured toward the table but Sarah putted up her hand to him. 'I know by far. The heroes of New York: Captain America, Hulk, Hawkeye and Black Willow. And here is Iron man. Really, I'm not a weirdo in this world. I know all about this stuff. Most interesting to know about…well…' She walked around to the other side of the table to face all the heroes and agents. 'Other out siders,' she finished with a smile. Steve Rogers smiled back at her. 'You could say that.' Sarah smiled back at him. Only Natasha didn't seem amused.

'O Really? Then what is special about you? You seem like a teenage girl to me. Fury what is she doing here?' Sarah looked at her with irritation. She bowed over the table. 'You are sitting next to a nerdy scientist at first eye and a man wearing a tight American flagged Halloween costume and you really still not realize that there can be more than what the eye sees?' She looked back at Bruce and Steve. 'No offence by the way. I love the both of you.' Then she turned back to Natasha. 'Besides, you do not look like much yourself.'

Tony was trying to suppress a smile but didn't succeed. Natasha's eyes showed fire of anger. 'All right, let's come to the point,' Coulson said to stop the fight. Sarah and Tony got seated and Fury started talking.

'The problem we are facing, are these rare storms that form around the world. So far we have found them only one by every continent. It started in Europe, we are not really sure where yet. These storms are nothing like natural ones. They are created by something or someone. So far we have only one lead of who could do such a thing and that are…'

'Frost Giants,' Sarah finished. Everyone looked from the one side of the table to the other. Some interested, some irritated. 'Yes,' Fury continued. 'But unfortunately we know very little about them. We tried to find information but the only sources are Norse Mythology books. Now, Sarah, could you tell us a little more about these creatures?'

Everyone faced her again. She leaned forward so she could put her forearms on the table. 'You found the right source already. The ancient Norse stories are exactly the truth. Frost Giants live on the planet Jotunheim. Everything is covered in ice. They don't need warmth. They don't need cold either. They create the cold.'

'So, heat would not weaken them?' Coulson asked. Sarah shook her head. 'They can stand anything. You aren't for nothing called immortal.'

'Great, immortal ice freaks,' Clint mugged, 'So how do we kill them? I think bullets would suffice.'

Sarah grinned. 'Then you can try.' Before he could ask what she meant she rose from her chair and faced him. 'You have a gun?'

He seemed tongue tied but did pull out a pretty large gun. Sarah spread her arms. 'Shoot me.' Nobody moved. Clint couldn't move or speak. She gestured that is was okay but he was incapable. 'I-I can't.' She raised her shoulders and returned to her seat. Bruce leaned forward. 'I don't understand. Why do you know so much about them?'

This was exactly what she hoped would happen. She rose again and closed her eyes. She embraced the cold and let it take over her body. She grew in height, while her skin turned blue. Everyone backed in their seats except Tony. He had seen this before. She opened her eyes and watched at the terrified faces. Then she opened her mouth and roared a deafening war cry. A storm of ice came from her mouth and froze the surface of the table. Everyone sat there in shock. She turned back to her normal form and sat down casually. 'That's why.'

No one seemed to be able to move. It took a couple of minutes before some started breathing again. Tony cleared his throat. 'So, heat is no weapon. I assume that guns are no option to. What is left?'

She looked at him, ignoring the still petrified people. 'Some guns. The very strong ones. Nuclear, rockets the real badass stuff. But not those pathetic little things.' She picked up the gun Clint had put on the table and pointed it at her heart. She loaded, ready to pull the trigger.

'Don't!,' Tony tried. PANG. A red liquid started to pour from her chest. She did not fall over or fail to breathe. She putted the gun down and searched with her fingers in her flesh for the bullet. She pulled it out and threw it on the table. Then she moved her hand over her chest, concentrated for a moment and when she removed her hand the total wound was gone.

'Another addition: We can heal within seconds.' Now everyone's eyes were big. Even Tony did not see that coming. She sat down again and cleared her throat. 'Okay I will stop showing you things you will see back in your nightmares. For the rest: we are immortal. That means you cannot hurt us with knifes or bare hand. Never get in a fist to fist fight because I assure you: you will die. The best way to kill a frost giant is to rip his heart out. But only another immortal can do so. So another frost giant or an Asgardian. About that, I thought Thor made a part of this team. You have no idea how useful he and an army of Asgardians can be.'

Fury came free from his shock. 'We failed to get in contact with him.' Sarah let her head rest on her hand. 'That is very unfortunate. Because there is one thing even better that telling you how to kill them, or let an army of Asgardians walk in.'

Everyone bowed over the table. 'What is it? A secret weapon?' Steve tried. Sarah started laughing. 'Yes, a very old but affective weapon. It can stop any war.' They were all listening with full attention. 'What is it?' Coulson whispered.

'Peace,' she said with a stern voice. Everyone was quiet. 'Well…good point,' Tony said. 'But how do we make peace with monsters?' He looked up at her and realized what he said. 'Oh sorry, I don't mean you!' Sarah waved her hand at him. 'No offense taken. And about that, that is why we could need Thor here. He knows how to use the Bifrost. It's a portal between all worlds. So we could go to Jotunheim. Personally I think I would be best to be send, since I'm like them and like you.'

Bruce nodded. 'That seems logic. I don't think there are a lot of half frost giant half humans out there.' Sarah held her head down but watched up at Fury and Coulson. 'There are two, actually.'

They didn't look back at her, a little at unease. 'Two?' Steve asked.

'I was send here together with my niece. But after a couple of years she was found by Shield. They send her off and I have never seen her again. She said she didn't want contact with me, but I know it was shield telling her that. Feya Iglea is her name.'

Clint and Natasha exchanged a glance. 'Agent Iglea is a frost giant?' Natasha said in full astonishment. Sarah nodded. Everyone felt the tension between the agents and the girl. She truly hated shield. Everyone knew within a second. But she breathed in deeply and let it go. She sat down again. 'And of course there is one other frost giant that was cast off to another world during that same war when we left. A very notorious one I heard,' she said.

'And we should know this person?' Bruce asked. Sarah looked at him thinking he made a joke. When she saw he didn't she started laughing. 'No? No one of you knows who I'm talking about?'

It remained silent. She shook her head. 'I would believe you would remember the son of Laufey, last king of Jotunheim.' Tony creased his eyebrows. 'Laufey…that sounds familiar.'

'Yeah, he kind of destroyed New York last year.' All the eyes were focused on her once again. 'You mean…' Steve started.

'Loki. Loki Laufeyson. Prince of Asgard and Jotunheim.'

'Loki is also a frost giant?' Fury asked. Sarah rose again. 'O come on! You know so little about everything! You are basically the only company in the world that has to do with other worlds and I still have to tell you basic Norse Mythology? Tell me, when you found those books, did you get past the title? Or were you stuck at the first page?'

Fury looked annoyed at her. She sighed. 'Loki was just a baby when the frost giants attacked the earth a thousand years ago. After the Asgardians defeated them under the leading of King Odin Allfather he found the baby and took it with him. At this same moment, my niece and I were around twenty years. Image a child of three in human years. We were cast off to earth to survive here. Now, I only know of Loki from the books I red and the stories from New York. I never met him or anything. But let's make clear, being a monster has nothing to do with where we come from. Our live created it. Frost giants are raised with violence and destroying as something normal and natural. I was raised here, so I know the value of a mortal life.'

'So Loki has turned evil because of being a spoiled prince in a world of immortal people owning magic?' Tony spotted. Sarah sighted. 'I don't know anything about Loki's childhood or reasons. I cannot judge. I'm just saying that being a frost giant is not the only reason for his behavior.'

They nodded. 'Good, we got a lot wiser today. Sarah we will need you a lot these days. We will try to contact Thor and prepare our armies on what they are facing. I think you better go now and take some rest. Coulson will lead you to your room Sarah.' Sarah nodded. She walked around the table and followed Coulson through the hallways.

She lost her sense of direction very fast. Every hall looked the same. Boring and grey. They ended in a hall with a lot of doors. He opened one with a card and they walked inside. It was a basic room. The same boring grey tone on the walls, floor and ceiling. In the back was a door that led to a bathroom. To her right was a small basic bed.

It felt like a prison cell.

'Cozy,' she said with irony. The small bag she packed at home was on the bed. She sat down next to it. Coulson did not leave. He stared at the floor lost in thoughts.

Sarah bended over to look in his face. 'Any problems?'

He snapped out of it and stared at her face. 'why do you hate shield so much?'

She sighed and stood up to face him. 'I was at the mental age of a teenager. Confused and disorientated. I was in a world full of people making fun of aliens as crazy creatures that couldn't communicate with humans. I felt like a total outsider. But when I came home there was one person that told me it was okay to be different. One person that understood me, because she was the same. I had these days I didn't want to live anymore, but she snapped me out of it. We did little competitions on the north pole to make the largest ice sculpture. And then one day, all of that joy, that life energy, was gone. Taken. Shield made me believe she didn't want to be with me anymore. So I imagined how you would be torturing her or use her for creepy experiments. You stole my life away.'

Coulson was totally quiet. He nearly did not breathe. For the first time he seemed ashamed of being a shield agent. And that was nothing usual for him.

He opened his mouth to speak, but no words came out. 'It's okay,' she whispered. He turned around to leave. 'Maybe you're right. Maybe some secrets are better not kept,' he said. She looked at his back. He then left and closed the door.

_So he is more than an agent._


	5. Chapter 5: secrets can kill you

**Chapter five: secrets can kill you**

The next day Sarah spent half an hour to find the same room again. She was lost all over the place. She found laboratories, training area's and a lot of prison cells. One was very odd. It was a round cell made of glass. She wondered why they would insert such an peculiar cell.

When she finally found the control room she found Tony and Bruce talking. Tony sat on the table holding a cup of coffee. Bruce was holding a digital board and pressed some buttons on it. When she entered they both looked up. A smile came upon Tony's face.

'Sarah! Good to see you again. How was your night?' He asked in an enthusiast way. She chuckled. 'Like a prisoner.' They both laughed at that. 'I understand what you mean. They had to give me a bigger room because I was getting to anxious in that little place,' Bruce said. Sarah smiled and walked over to the coffee car. 'So, any updates on the god of thunder?' she asked with her back to them.

'Not really. We have no idea how to reach them. Shield even got to Jane Foster, a woman he kind of fancies. Even she didn't know. She said he normally screams to the sky that the bifrost can open,' Tony said. He started laughing out loud after that. 'So a couple of agents have literally been screaming to the sky. One was arrested because they thought he was drunk!' Sarah nearly choked on her first sip of coffee. They all started to laugh uncontrollably. Only then did Steve and Natasha walk in while talking. They stopped when they saw the three laughing like corny teenage girls. 'What's so funny?' Natasha asked without humor. Sarah walked to the table and sat next to Tony on the table. She waved her hand at Natasha. 'Never mind. You wouldn't understand.'

'Why? To difficult? To scientific?' Steve asked lightly. Sarah shook her head. 'No. To funny. Not really Natasha's thing.' Natasha rolled her eyes and walked away. Tony poked Sarah in her side with his elbow. 'That was a good one.' She smiled at him. Then Fury walked in and they started to exchange information. Sarah told some more about the old stories of Asgard and Jotunheim. When Fury started about the agents trying to reach Thor, Tony, Sarah and Bruce started giggling. Fury ignored them and went on. An hour passed by and Sarah started to get bored. The others were listening intensely to the scientific explanation they've got for the bifrost. It didn't really interest her.

Just when she was about to fall asleep the door opened and Coulson and Clint came in. She shot up to look awake. 'Director Fury, we found the agent that could help us,' Coulson said.

'Good. Bring her in.'

They all looked at the door where a woman came in. She wore a black suit with several gun holders. Her face was slim and pale. It had a strong yet friendly look. Her hair was dark blonde just like Sarah, but shorter and straight. She wore her hair back in a high ponytail.

'Director Fury,' she said with a steady voice, 'Agent Iglea at your service.'

Sarah was petrified in her chair. She couldn't move or blink. The woman was still just like the one she used to share her life with, but older and more serious. She looked straight forward, not noticing her long lost niece. Then Sarah found the strength to raise in her seat. Only now did the woman look at her.

'Feya,' Sarah said without breath.

Her eyes grew large. They started to water. 'S-Sarah?'

Sarah walked around the table. Every step got faster. Feya started to move as well. They found each other and got tangled up in a firm hug. Sarah couldn't believe this was really happening. Feya started to cry. 'I thought I would never see you again!' she said. Sarah felt that was true. She pulled away to look in her nieces eyes. Feya looked at her with pure joy. Only Sarah didn't. She didn't cry. Feya's face changed. 'What's wrong?' Sarah sighed. 'I knew you would miss me.'

'Of course! Why should I not?'

'That's what shield told me you said.'

Feya did not know how to react. She couldn't find words. Sarah stroked her hair. 'It's shorter. I preferred it longer, but this suits you also just fine.'

Feya shook her head and grabbed Sarah's hands. 'Sarah I'm so sorry I left you. Really, I know it was wrong. But I found something that made me feel useful. These people wanted me to show my strong side. I loved it that they loved me. I asked you to join me but you didn't want…'

'To be a secret for the rest of my life. Yes I know why I said no,' Sarah added annoyed.

Feya shook her head. 'Shield, these people are my life now. I only wished you would be part of it.' Sarah looked in her eyes and saw she was telling the truth. She pulled her niece into another hug. 'I was never angry at you anyway. I'm just so happy to see you again.'

Feya hugged her back. There was no sense in arguing. 'I'm happy you are no longer a secret of me,' she whispered.


	6. Chapter 6: Who's the threat?

**Chapter six: Who's the threat?**

That evening Sarah walked a lot around in the higher places of the ship. She wanted to think about anything. She was happy she found her niece back but she changed so much. She spent some time in the control room with her niece and the others. Feya talked just like Coulson or Fury. Like every word she spoke hid something. Sarah was getting so sick of all those secrets. Something else she noticed, was that Feya had not even once taken the term frost giant in her mouth. She only spoke of herself as an agent with extra strength and the people from Jotunheim as monsters.

'_You do realize we are the same right?' _Sarah had said.

'_No, we are humans. We were raised on this earth and we know what is right. We are nothing like them,' _she had answered.

Sarah had to admit she didn't see herself as a monster like the others but she would never say she was something completely different. She still believed in her way of making peace with them.

'_Impossible,' _Feya had said, '_They are not here to argue with us. They only want to harm others. I see no use in risking our lives to go there.' _

'_I'd risk my life if I could save everyone on earth,' _Sarah had answered.

Feya was not open for discussion. In that moment together they both noticed how completely different they had become. Feya was living by so many rules, Sarah had none.

Sarah kept moving. No matter how big the base was, in every room and every hall was someone. So far she couldn't find one place to be alone. She walked through a door and ended up on top of the base. The wind was racing around her as she walked over the place. A human would have flew off or froze from the cold. Not her. But the emptiness here wasn't enough. She knew the thing was flying over the mainland of America. She didn't really care about other things now. Without further thinking she jumped from the plane. She raced down in a straight line. After miles of falling at an incredible speed she started to see the ground. She putted her hands down and a ray of ice came from them. They raced down even faster and reached the ground long before she could. They slowed her down. She hit the ground with a faint sound when she jumped a couple of foot. She looked around and found herself in an open area. Something like a desert. The sun was almost under and it was turning dark. She walked around in the dirt. The temperature was lowering. Not like any temperature bothered her. She made it cold if she would want to.

The sun was gone and a lot of clouds gathered. After a while it started raining. Even the thunder became involved. She looked up. A ray of lighting hit the ground miles away from her. No matter she would survive when it would hit her, she was still amazed by the force and power of it. Then another ray struck very close. She tumbled back and fell to the ground. Her heart started racing at a high speed. It was really terrifying. She stood back up and turned around to take cover somewhere.

But before she could move something hit her with full force. She was thrown back over the dirt. When she finally fell backwards and came to a stop something grabbed her neck and pulled her back on her feet.

'What are you doing here?!' the person shouted in her face. She felt the strength in him, because she couldn't free herself. That was a first.

She opened her eyes and finally saw her attacker. It was a young man with long golden locks. He wore odd clothes for this world and held a rare hammer. He looked angry at her, still holding her at her neck. Her feet didn't reach the ground.

'I…am not…your enemy…Thor,' she choked out. No doubt it was Thor. She felt the greatness of him in his presence. She had to admit: she admired him.

'Are you a frost giant or not? You set of this storm!' He yelled, still not letting her go.

'Yes and no. I didn't do this. I…want to help…the humans!'

He did not seem convinced. He didn't let her go either.

'Thor…listen. I work with shield. I…want to…protect…earth…I…am really short of breath now,' her voice grew smaller with every word. He seemed to be considering it now. Still he held on.

'Let her go!' Another voice said. Thor turned around and let Sarah go in the movement. She fell to the ground, while coughing. The voice came from the flying robot that came closer.

'Man of Iron you know this girl? For I must warn you, she is…' Thor started.

'A frost giant. Yes I know. She helps us so let her alone,' Tony said back. He landed and walked over to the girl that was still searching for breath. He bended down and putted a hand on her back. It felt so much stronger now he was wearing his suit. 'Are you okay?' He asked. It sounded emotionless through this layer of iron. 'Yeah…yeah I will live,' she said.

'I am sorry. I noticed you were a frost giant and with these storms…' Thor started. She got up on her knees and looked over at him. 'I understand. Now I must say, it's a first to me that someone felt stronger than me. And it's good you're here. We need you.'

Thor reached over to lend her a hand. She got up on her feet. 'Thanks.' She smiled and he smiled back. 'Let's get back to the base to let the others know we found our glorious god again,' Tony said. Sarah turned around and nodded. 'Wait a moment, how did you know where I was?' she asked Iron man.

'I…followed you,' he said guilty. She did not know why, but it gave her a good feeling. Like someone watching over her and caring for her. 'Okay. Let's go.'

Before one of the two could offer her a lift back up she decided to show of her power. She turned her palms to the ground and took off by the ray of ice running from her hands. She shot up before the others could. After a little moment they were right behind her. When she was too far from the ground she started to freeze the clouds to make them solid. They would fall down but before they could she unfroze them. Cloud by cloud she walked up in the sky. Then they found the base. The engines blew away the clouds here so Sarah missed a step and fell down. Before she could fall far Tony grabbed her and held her secure to his suit. She didn't mind and let him transport her towards the base. Once there they walked in to the control room.

When they opened the door everyone noticed the god walking in. 'Thor,' Fury stated. Thor nodded at him and walked in. All the others were in the room. Tony left to store his suit. 'How did you get here? And Sarah, we couldn't find you.'

She was about to say something but Thor started first. 'I found her and she brought me here. I am sorry to inform I attacked her first because of what she is. Now I know she means no harm. So, I have seen the storms. This is the work of frost giants.'

'We know that,' Steve said. 'The problem is that we aren't strong enough to face them. At least an army of humans is not.'

'That is right. You should not try, for you will lose,' Thor said.

'So that's why we need you. Do you think Asgard is willing to fight for earth?' Natasha asked.

'I am positive my father will lend his army. For we are strong enough to face them. We did before.'

'That is good to hear,' Fury continued, 'Let's get them here as soon as possible.'

'As soon as I travel back and ask the king we will stand ready to fight,' Thor said. He almost turned around to leave again.

'Wait!' Sarah screamed at Thor. He stopped and looked at her, confused. She saw that everyone was staring at her. 'What is it?' Thor asked. She sighed. 'Please, why can't we try peace before war? Let me go with you through the bifrost and send me to Jotunheim. I am convinced I can talk with them.'

Thor seemed to consider that. 'We never tried. There was peace for a thousand years…'

'Exactly. Why would they suddenly want earth's destruction? I want to know before we start murdering them.' Sarah looked right in the eyes of Thor.

'Agent Iglea said that there was no possibility of peace,' Fury stated. Sarah was annoyed by that argument. 'Screw her. At least it is worth a try. Even if I fail, what would be the difference? Prepare the Asgardian army nevertheless and make sure the weapons are there. But give me a shot first. Please?' She didn't address Fury but Thor. He thought about it but nodded then. 'Okay. It can do no harm. We will try. I can only not assure your safety.'

A smile came on her face. 'I never counted on that.'


	7. Chapter 7: three worlds, one family

**Chapter seven: three worlds, one family**

The next morning they prepared to leave. Sarah dressed herself in some comfortable pants and a plain shirt with a jacket. She bounded her hair back in a hair braid. A faint knock was heard on her door.

'Enter.'

The door opened and Feya came in. Sarah was walking between the small closet and her backpack. 'What's up?' Sarah asked without looking at her.

'I wanted to wish you good luck,' she said with a soft voice. Sarah stopped and looked at her. She had dark circles under her eyes and her whole presence was down. 'Thanks,' Sarah said shortly.

She continued walking around. 'You know, you don't have to go,' Feya said. Sarah sighed and dropped a shirt on the bed. 'I know you think it's pointless but I just want to try…' She was interrupted by Feya. 'That's not what I mean. I am scared something will happen to you. You might be immortal but you grew up in a non-violence environment. These people you will face are trained soldiers. If they hurt you…' She stopped before the despair could take over.

Sarah walked over to her and laid her hand on her shoulder. 'I am ready. I can be of use for earth. If not, I run for my life. With that, Thor is coming with me. He will help me where he can.'

She nodded, still not happy about her nieces decision. 'Come here,' Sarah said and pulled her into a hug. Feya started sobbing. 'I just got you back,' she whispered. Sarah did not know what to say. She held her niece a little longer. Then she pulled back, smiled at her and continued packing. She pulled the full backpack over her shoulder and walked past her niece. She paused at the threshold.

'This is not farewell, I promise,' Sarah said. Then she took off to where Thor was waiting.

On the roof of the base were Thor and Tony waiting. 'Are you ready?' Thor asked. She nodded. 'My first travel with the bifrost. It's a real honor. Do I need to do something?'

Thor smiled. 'Just hold on to me and everything will be fine.'

She grinned back and looked over at Tony. He seemed just as tired and down as Feya. He looked up at her. He shook his head like he didn't want to show her his emotions.

'You better return. We need you too hard on the battlefield. And if not for there, I still need you to make the things here a little more vividly.' She chuckled. Then she took a step closer to look him straight in the eyes. 'I will return. Promised.'

He looked at her for a moment and pulled her then in a tight hug. She hugged him back, trying to not be sucked into the depression that hung over everyone. He didn't let her go for some time. Thor shifted uneasy. Then Sarah pulled herself out of his arms. She took his face in her hands. 'Promised,' she whispered. He tried to suppress the tears he wanted to cry. She let go of him and followed Thor through the door.

Outside was that same violence of the wind again. She held on to Thor's arm, afraid the bifrost would open before she was ready. Thor stood still in the middle of the roof.

'Get us up Heimdall,' Thor said. It reminded her of the story of the agents that yelled at the sky. She would have started laughing if not for the light ray coming from the clouds surrounding them. A moment later they were launched into the air. She held on tightly to Thor. An uneasy feeling started in her stomach. _I hope this doesn't take too long._ As she hoped it was over soon. They suddenly were in a round golden chamber. In the middle stood a figure. He was holding a sword that released lighting. Then he threw the sword from the ground and the lighting stopped. The building also stopped spinning. She could look around now. But what really happened was that she felt on her hands and knees.

'Damn I feel sick!' She groaned. Thor bended down and helped her back up. 'It will fade soon. This mostly only happens the first time you use it.' She nodded and focused on the man. He was black and totally dressed in golden armor.

'You must be the guardian of the Bifrost. Heimdall right?' she said. He nodded. 'So I am. It is nice to meet you Sarah Frostblossom.'

She nodded back. 'Likewise.' Most people would have wondered how he knew her, but she knew he was the one that sees and knows all.

'Come,' Thor said pulling her forward. They moved to the other side of the round chamber, where a huge bridge laid. It looked like a rainbow. They walked over the total of the bridge towards the huge golden castle that was easy to spot. They walked through the golden doors that led to the throne chamber. As huge as the doors were, the room behind it was even bigger. Sarah was stunned by the breathtaking sight of Asgard. They walked in towards the throne. As they came closer she could see the chair clearly. But only the chair.

'It is empty,' Thor said. He stopped and walked over to a guard. 'Tell me where I can find King Odin,' Thor demanded. The man started talking without looking Thor right in the eyes. 'King Odin left this morning, you highness. He is not present in the castle.'

Thor raised an eyebrow. 'Where did he go?'

'He did not tell, sire.'

Thor turned around to face Sarah. 'I don't know where he is.'

She took a step closer. 'Then we let it be. Let's go to Jotunheim and talk. Every minute now they could attack and I don't want to be too late.'

Thor nodded. 'You are right. Let's go. We'll fly this time.'

They walked out of the doors. Thor let his hammer swing in circles to gain speed. He grabbed Sarah at her waist and threw the hammer in the sky. They flew over the rainbow bridge towards the bifrost. There they found Heimdall.

'Do you know where my father is, Heimdall?' Thor asked.

'He left this morning to Jotunheim,' the man answered back.

'What? Why?' Sarah asked.

'I do not know. Lately the king has been shielding his presence and thoughts from me. I cannot read him.'

'Strange,' Thor said in himself. 'Nevertheless send us there too.'

Heimdall putted his sword back in the holder and the place started spinning again. This time it was less sickening for Sarah. They ended up on the frozen planet. It was totally quiet and dark. They walked together over the ice. Sarah looked around. As beautiful as Asgard was, so depressing was her true home.

'I'm happy I wasn't raised here,' she said.

They walked toward the palace made of ice. Some frost giants came from the ice caves and stood before them. Their height was impressing. Even Sarah didn't grow so tall when she went blue.

'Who are you?' the one asked.

'Thor Odinson of Asgard and Sarah Frostblossom of Earth. We are here to talk to your leader about the storms you unleashed on earth.'

The two looked at each other. 'Frostblossom?' The other said with a deep creepy voice, 'You are one of us.'

Sarah took a step forward. 'I am. I am both. I am here to discuss this issue with your king. Please, bring us to him.'

The one turned around and walked through the massive ice doors. He came back a moment later.

'Our leader wishes to see only the frost giant,' he stated.

Sarah looked at Thor. 'It's okay. I can defend myself if necessary.'

'Good luck. I'll be right here.'

She walked through the doors behind the guard. Inside was a huge room, nearly as big as the throne chamber of Asgard. But this room didn't have a ceiling. It showed the darkness of night. She knew from the stories that it was always night at Jotunheim. In front of her was a huge throne, high above her. She got to the beginning of the stairs and knelt down on one knee.

'So, I heard you are a frost giant that lived on earth,' a voice came from the throne. It was too high from this point to see something.

'That is right, you highness,' Sarah said. 'I am here in the name of my planet. Storms have been gathering on earth. We believe it is the work of frost giants.'

'That it is,' the person said. He raised from his throne and started walking down slowly.

'I am here to ask you, if needed beg you, for peace. We do not wish for war. We hope we can come to a compromise.' She dared to stand back up to look the blue giant in the eyes when he answered her.

But he wasn't blue. He wasn't a giant. He strode down the last few steps to stand in front of her. Her eyes nearly popped out of their sockets.

Her heart skipped a beat.

'But…you…' she tried to say.

'Are dead? Well, not really.'

In front of her stood the heir of the throne.

The god of Mischief.

Loki Laufeyson.


	8. Chapter 8: the price of peace

**Chapter eight: the price of peace**

Sarah thought back at the previous day. After she and Thor made the deal to go to Jotunheim they sat around the table to talk some more. They discussed everything that has passed.

'_And then we destroyed the last dark elves. I still do not understand were shield was in that,' _Thor had said after explaining how they fought the dark elves in London.

'_We simply didn't know. It was already too late when we found it out. We are very sorry and grateful that you saved this planet,' _Coulson had answered.

Tony had interrupted. _'So how are things with your evil brother? Still in prison I hope?' _

Thor had been quiet. After a moment he spoke again. _'Loki is dead.' _

And yet here he was. Standing in front of Sarah with a twisted smile on his face. Everything about him shocked her. She had seen little videos that people from New York had captured during the attack of Loki, so she knew his hair had grown longer. He wasn't wearing the same armor but a darker one with only black, covered by a huge cloak of thick fur. His skin was pale, different from the other frost giants here. He looked pretty much like a god to her. His eyes stared into hers as they showed pain and weariness. But also power and dominance. His smile was the thing that caught her off guard the most. Or perhaps it was his resurrection from the death.

'Loki,' she whispered. She realized it was the first thing she had said since she recognized him.

'Yes,' he whispered back on a frightening tone.

Sarah opened her mouth. 'I…I don't understand. Thor said you were dead.'

His smile became even wider. He started pacing back and forth for her. 'That's what he believes. It is not so hard to trick him, I assure you.'

Sarah didn't know where to start. She looked down, searching for the most important. Loki looked at her. 'So. A frost giant that was cast off to another world after the last war. Sounds familiar,' He said. Sarah's thoughts raced back and forth. If he lived, he was alive since the attack on London. That was a couple of months ago.

'Where have you been?' Sarah asked with a steady voice. Loki looked up to her, surprised by her sudden talking. 'What do you mean?' he asked while crossing his arms over his chest.

'Since you…faked your death,' she said.

'Ah. Well, kind of everywhere. I spend some time here readying an army. The other time I spend in Asgard.'

She thought about that. He couldn't go as himself, so he made an illusion. But still Heimdall would be able to see him…except…

'Where is king Odin?' Sarah asked. Loki came very close to her. He looked down on her, because he was taller. She looked up at him. A green glow fell over him as he transformed into king Odin. Then he turned back to himself. 'I killed him,' he whispered close to her ear.

She swallowed loudly. Her breathing got heavier. 'Why do you want a war?' she continued. She wanted him away from her. He did back up and started pacing a little again. 'I hate that pathetic little planet. And the frost giants share that opinion. It really didn't take me so much difficulty. They've been waiting for revenge. All I had to do was open the portals for them.'

Sarah clutched her hands in fists. It made her so angry. But she also felt embarrassed because she was one of these creatures. 'Is there nothing we can do?' She asked in despair.

Loki turned around to face her. He took a step closer. Then another. He came very close again. She didn't like it at all, because he was very intimidating this way. He raised his hand and placed it on her cheekbone. 'You are one remarkable creature, I must give you that. A fearsome creature hidden in a beautiful body.' He lifted her chin so she had to look at him. His eyes showed wonder now. 'So pure,' he whispered.

She started shaking on her legs. No matter she was immortal or cold, this really frightened her. She was totally out of her comfort zone. But it didn't matter. All that mattered was the safety of the humans. It took all her courage but she did speak the words.

'You can have me,' She said with a nearly breaking voice, 'If you promise you'll stop this attack.'

Loki watched with full surprise and wonder. A smile came on his face. It was different from the evil grin he showed before. This felt more like a feeling of joy inside him. He took a deep breath of approval. The small grin made Sarah's stomach make a flip. He ran his hand from her cheek down over her shoulder to her waist where he made a quick pull movement. She shrieked shortly. He bended down over her. 'Deal,' He whispered while blowing out a lot of air. It made Sarah's heart race faster. And Loki could feel it throbbing against his chest. It made him smile with even more pleasure. Then he let her go and walked back to the stairs. 'We shall go to Asgard. Prepare to leave.'

'You know, your brother is still outside waiting,' she said. His mood dropped when she mentioned him. He looked at her. 'You walk outside and tell him to leave. Do not tell him I live, for he shall find out another time. Tell him you will stay and he wouldn't come for you again.'

She nodded and headed for the door. Outside Thor was walking in small circles, eyes on the ground. When he heard the door open he stalked towards the girl walking out.

'And?' he asked without too much hope. Sarah tried to smile. 'It's done. Earth is safe.'

Thor's mouth fell open. 'Really? How?'

Sarah looked down while answering. 'We made an exchange. The leader was interested in me because I am a little of both worlds. He wanted…me.' She swallowed and tried not to cry.

Thor laid a hand on her shoulder. 'You don't have to…' he started. She looked up in his eyes. 'No. I want the earth to be safe. I have to do this. It is my duty. Please inform shield that everyone is safe. Never come back for me. That was his demand.'

Thor nodded. 'Then I bed you farewell. I wish you all the luck in all the realms. You are a strong woman, remember that.'

She nearly started crying so she only nodded. He pulled her into a tight hug. Then he let go and walked away. Sarah breathed unsteady. 'Still that same annoying Thor. He never changed.'

Sarah turned around quickly to search for Loki but all she found were the two guards. Then the one started to glow green and turned into the god of mischief. 'How can you look at him like that? He never blamed you for anything and still you hate him,' Sarah spoke a little angry. She felt sorry for Thor he had to deal with a brother like that.

'He never blamed me, but I blame him. And it is al to blame on him. So I'm only doing what is right,' Loki said lightly.

'Yeah right. War is certainly the right thing,' she said while rolling her eyes. Loki quickly moved forward to stand in front of her. She immediately regretted her words. 'Are you getting rebellious against me?' he said angrily. She shook her head. 'No. I'm sorry.' He looked at her a little longer. 'Good, because I hate that. You better listen. Now, follow me.'

He grabbed her wrist and pulled her with him away from the castle. After walking for a bit he transformed into king Odin. A little later the Bifrost opened around them and they ended up in the round chamber. Heimdall was there, of course.

'Good evening my king,' Heimdall said. Loki didn't respond. He just kept on walking while still holding onto Sarah. They took a horse over the bridge towards the castle. Last time she felt pure joy being here. This time it scared her like hell. She wanted to go home.

But she couldn't. She would never return. 


	9. Chapter 9: the desires of a God

**Chapter nine: the desires of a God**

WARNING: this chapter contains sexual actions!

They arrived at the castle by sunset. Sarah didn't get a lot of time to admire the surroundings. Loki was eager to get inside. She feared for the worst.

They passed by some guards that didn't move at the kings arrival. Loki didn't talk to anyone as he dragged the girl around the castle. They got up a lot of stairs to end up at the top floor. There with a flick of his wrist he opened the massive doors. They swung open to reveal a huge round room. To the left and right Sarah could see outside to the landscape of Asgard. The last intense sunrays made the golden room glow magically. At the other side of the round room was a huge bed, enough to fit in four people. To the right was a door, leading to a dressing room and bathroom. In the middle of room was a small table with two armchairs. She wanted to look at the beautiful room forever, but she couldn't. Loki transformed into himself and pulled her to the other side of the room, at the end of the bed.

'Now,' he said hungrily, 'You shall do whatever I want you to do.'

Sarah closed her eyes and wished she wasn't here. When it didn't work she took a deep breath and opened her eyes again. 'Alright.' Loki liked that. He threw the massive cloak of his shoulders. Then he started to let his hands run over her body. She was still in the black suit. He groaned. 'I don't like this.' He waved his hand over her and the next moment she just wore a short dress. It nearly got over her bottom. He smiled in approval and started to run his hands over the soft fabric, tearing it apart. Big cuts ran through the fabric and here and there over her skin. This was the first time since she parted her way with Feya that she felt pain. Feya never meant to harm her, but they had these fights for practicing. Now it was different. This man wouldn't stop if she screamed. He would only make it worse. She tried to clutch her teeth together to not make a sound.

'Now, turn into your giant form,' he ordered. She didn't dare to look down at her damaged body. She closed her eyes and started to turn blue. Loki did the same. It made him still stand taller than her. He moved forward and ran his hands over this new form. He moaned and groaned in her neck.

'You are so beautiful,' he murmured. She was surprised by that. 'Really?' she breathed. He stopped for a moment with his hands on her bottom. He looked her into her red piercing eyes with his own. 'Yes. I mean you are wonderful without this, but this,' He needed to take another look at her and take a breath of excitement, 'This is magnificent. You are a strong, pure creature. Nothing like these monsters on that planet. That is the only thing that pathetic planet did right.' He leaned in and sucked on her collar-bone. 'You are like me,' he added in between two kisses.

She tried to think but the touch of him on her skin made it very hard. She was like him. In some way. And didn't he promise her peace? That is something good…right?

Not so evil after all. That together with the stories she read and heard from Thor she knew he was a tortured soul.

A tortured soul worth saving. It was her that could do so.

He placed his hands on the fabric that covered her breast. With one movement he tore the remaining of the dress in half and threw in on the ground. She gasped from the exposal. She closed her eyes, afraid. But all remained silent. He didn't speak or move. He was probably looking at her. Curious she opened her eyes. He was looking at her. But with full wonder. Like he could fall on his knees and started praying. She breathed heavily. Then she couldn't stand his gaze any more. She passed the space between them and started to run her hands over his body. When she touched him for the first time he closed his eyes and they remained closed. She tugged at the shirt he was wearing and threw it on the ground. When she watched back at his blue chest she gasped for breath.

'Something wrong my slave?' he said, eyes remaining closed. She shook her head. 'I was only surprised by your muscular body.' She had no idea what had gotten into her that she would say that. At least it pleased him well. She could not only tell by his expression, but also because she was moving down to remove his pants. She wanted to pull them down first, but changed her mind. What he could do, she could. She held one side of the fabric surrounding his hips each side and pulled them apart. His body changed into the normal skin tone. She did the same.

He pulled her up on her feet to face him. She threw her arms around his shoulders and looked right in his green piercing eyes. She felt his body move against hers.

'You are quite calm,' he stated. She moved her lips to his neck and started licking, sucking and kissing. His breath became heavier and she felt him pulse against her leg.

She had to confess she didn't mind it at this point anymore. She had have sex before, but those were all mortals. She had to be careful not to snap their bodies in two. But this, this was different. He could hurt her just as badly as she could hurt him. They were equal.

_They were the same, _she realized. Just like he said. He pulled her head away from his neck and in front of his face again. He threw her hands of his shoulders. Then they were not touching. Just watching. Deep into each other's eyes. She did not feel uncomfortable with his stare. She knew hers was just as intense. It felt like just that look was enough to make the time stop. Very slowly and without breaking eye contact he moved both his hands up to her cheeks. He rubbed her skin with his thumb. She didn't dare closing her eyes.

'What do you want me to do?' she asked with a strong voice.

'What do you want yourself to do?' he asked. She thought about that. Maybe she wanted nothing. No. She knew what she wanted. She moved her head to his and in that same movement he moved forward all the same. Their lips met in a kiss. He pulled her face closer and closer, consuming her in the kiss. She totally let herself go. So did he. She placed her hands on his waist and pulled his body closer to hers. Every inch of skin needed to be covered by the others. He moved his hands from her face to her neck and hair. He ran them through her golden locks, down over her back. Then one hand got under her tight and lifted her leg up. She threw it around his body. He pulled back from the kiss to let the both of them catch their breath. They both breathed heavily into each other's face. A smile of joy and excitement touched his lips.

'You are a wild one, pet,' he said with a groan. She totally got caught up in the moment. She copied his smile but let her eyes also gleam with joy. 'I haven't even started,' she said as seductive as she could. It worked for he moaned loudly and shifted his body even closer to hers, pulling her leg up higher.

She leaned in for another kiss. He kissed back, but this time he parted his lips, touching hers with his tongue. She opened her lips as well and let his tongue dance around hers. While kissing he pulled her other leg over his hip as well. She climbed over him. She threw back. Now she looked down on him for the first time. It made him look more fragile, but still as a magnificent god. He would never be less. He threw her on top of the bed and crawled over her rapidly. He started kissing her in her neck, going down to her breast. She let her eyes roll in their sockets from pleasure. He took the one nipple in his mouth while massaging the other with his hand. She took deep breathes, not embarrassed to let them hear. He let go of her nipple and started running his hands lower over her belly. She grabbed a pillow to dig her nails in. Soon she tore through the fabric, letting the little feathers flow around. He moved his hands to her intimate parts.

'Now, let me hear what you're made of. Let's see how strong you are,' he teased, whispering against her inner tight. Then he moved his tongue inside of her. She nearly jumped up but pulled herself back in the bed. She felt so guilty but so good. To make it worse, or better, he started massaging her tights. She pulled the pillow over her mouth to bite in it. He pulled out for a moment to speak. 'Don't be afraid, no one can hear you behind these doors. Let me hear your moans.' Then he moved back in with a little more force.

For a mortal it must have felt like so much strength, but not to her. For her it was perfect. He didn't stop licking and massaging for some time and she felt her inner liquids run down. She didn't want it to be over yet. She pushed herself up so he had to let go of her. She moved over to kiss him again, sitting on his lap. He moaned during the kiss. Then he pulled her back. 'You are so strong. I like it.' She pushed against his chest to lay him on his back. She went all over his skin with her lips giving him little kisses. Here and there she bit until he starting bleeding. He seemed to like it. She moved over to his neck and let her lips touch his skin so softly that a mortal would not have felt it. She teased him with her cold breath running over his skin. She got up to right above his face. Her lips hanging above his.

'I like you too,' she whispered softly. Then she nibbled on his lower lip for a moment before moving back over his skin. She moved her mouth down to his hard cock. She licked it up and down, what made him flinch several times. It made her smile so wide. 'You tell me what you are made of.' Then she took all of it in her mouth. He groaned loud when she did. She sucked and moved her tongue around it. Loki sat right up and placed his hands on the back of her head. He pushed her even closer around him. After some time he pulled her off him and laid her back down. He leaned over her, parting her legs to get inside her. He teased by waiting at her entrance. 'Get in,' she groaned.

That made him smile. Then he went in, in one movement. Her eyes popped open and she screamed at the top of her lungs. Every thrust of him gave her a new gulf of pain and pleasure. He took her in his arms and placed her on his lap without moving out of her. She moved up and down, feeling her climax come. To make it better he sucked on her breast and rubbed the little nub above her entrance. She breathed heavier with every suck of air. 'Faster,' she commanded. So he did. She felt like nothing could stop her now. One more thrust…

She groaned out loud screaming Loki's name when she came. That was the trigger for him to spill his seed in her. They stayed like that for a little longer. Then she stepped from him and laid down in the bed. He laid down next to her, facing her. They looked each other in the eyes. Their breathing started to get back to normal.

'That was…something,' Sarah breathed. Loki didn't move a muscle in his face. All he did was stare at her. She reached over to search the blanket. 'Don't,' he demanded. 'I want to look at you for some more time.' She fell back down and turned her head to look at him. His glance moved from her eyes down over her entire body. She didn't care anymore.

'You know you have me every day and night, remember?'

A smile came on his face but disappeared a moment later. She rolled her eyes and closed them. She tried to relax and just lay there.

_This isn't so bad if I'm honest with myself, _she thought. She peeked at Loki through her eyelashes. He was still looking at her body. She got annoyed and turned her back to him. She expected him to curl around her but he didn't.

'Are you happy?' she asked.

'What?' he asked softly. 'You know, is this everything you ever wanted? A castle, two worlds to rule, someone to be your slave…Is it what you dreamed about?'

That send Loki thinking. Was he happy? No, he wasn't satisfied yet. Not until he got what he wanted. But she better didn't find out. If he could keep her here…maybe she would never find out.

Sarah stopped waiting on a response. Since he wasn't talking, she did. 'So, the thing I never got is that fight with your brother. I mean, you two were raised together. Don't you feel any love for him?'

That got too far. Loki grabbed her shoulder to turn her around. She looked in his eyes that were filled with hate. She was shocked by his look. 'Stop talking,' he hissed. Then he fell back in the bed and turned away from her. She kept staring at his back. 'No,' she said.

He turned around, still with that anger in his face. 'No I wouldn't shut up. You know why? Because you need it. You break everything that is dear to you. You can't tell me you hated your father, otherwise his approval wouldn't matter that much to you. You shut everyone out that tries to reach you. You…' She wanted to go on but he jumped on her. He pushed her head in the pillows and held his hand over her mouth. He got very close to her face. 'Enough,' he spat in her face. 'One more word and I kill you. You obey to me and if you don't I don't need you any longer. Understood?'

She wanted to protest. She knew she was right. But she thought about earth. What she would unleash if she went on.

'UNDERSTOOD?' he yelled in her face. She shut her eyes and turned her face away. Then she shook her head and made a approving sound. He moved his hand away from her mouth and turned back around. He pulled the blanket up to cover half of his body.

Sarah waited a little longer before doing the same. She turned away from him. She stared over the landscape of Asgard. So beautiful. At least she would never get tired of this world.

The god she was not sure of.

Later that night she felt something move over her. She opened her eyes but everything was dark. She felt that the thing wrapped around her waist was his arm. She wanted to turn her head, but he grabbed it and turned it back. 'Don't,' he said. His voice didn't sound like before. It was more quiet and…broken. After a little moment she swore she heard him sob.

_So he knew she was right._

She laid her hand on his and felt back to sleep.


	10. Chapter 10: prepare for war

**Chapter ten: prepare for war**

Sarah woke the next morning by the rays of sunlight that shone through her eyelids. She rubbed in her eyes and pushed herself up. First she was disorientated. Then she remembered everything about Asgard and Loki. She turned her head to look for Loki. He wasn't there. There was no sign of him in the room. She climbed out of the bed to take a shower. After that she dressed herself in a dress that was carefully folded on a chair. The dress was made of very light fabrics that flowed around her body. She walked thought the doors into the hallway. After a minute of walking she felt like walking in rounds. It was so huge. Then she saw a door that led to the throne chamber. Also here she could not find Loki.

She walked over to a guard. 'Do you know where king Odin is?' she asked. The man didn't move his eyes to look at her. 'King Odin left earlier this morning. I believe he mentioned the Bifrost, my lady.'

It felt like a stone sunk in her stomach. _Did he lie? _She nodded at the guard and turned back around. She would not walk into this without protection.

After a small detour through the vault she left the castle to set out to the Bifrost. There she found Heimdall. 'Did king Odin pass by?' she asked. 'Yes, my lady. He went to Jotunheim.'

She rolled her eyes. _What a surprise. _'Send me there.'

He opened the Bifrost and send her off. She returned to the world of ice and darkness. She walked towards the palace, but this time she would not enter through the doors. She walked around it to find an area crowded with frost giants. As far as she could see all male. The fact that they were gathering like this, here and there busy with making weapons, alarmed her. She turned in her blue form and walked over to the nearest man.

'Excuse me,' she said. The giant looked up. 'Yes madam?' She tried to smile. 'Tell me, I am confused. I heard the attack was not going on. Does our leader still plan the attack on earth?'

He looked confused. 'Well, of course. I have no idea where you heard that, but there has never been a second thought in the attack.'

Inside she cooked with fury. 'Thanks,' she groaned through her teeth. She turned around and took off to the palace. She took a flight over the place to enter from above. She hid behind a pillar next to the throne of ice. She was high above the floor. There gathered a group of frost giants. She looked over to the throne, that revealed the blue version of Loki. He sat with his legs spread, looking down at his servants. He stood up. 'You can leave now,' he said loudly.

The frost giants left the room. Loki walked forward. She dared to come out of her hiding place.

'Look who is keeping his deal,' she said. When he turned around she smacked her fist in his face. He was so surprised that he fell back. He nearly rolled down the stairs.

'Sarah…' He groaned. She crossed her hands over her chest. 'Yeah it's me. That pathetic little girl you promised peace. Well, you are not keeping your end of the bargain…' She bowed down and grabbed his throat. 'Then I'm not either,' she hissed. He grabbed her hand and pushed himself back on his feet. She turned blue and threw all force in to make an ice storm aiming for Loki. When it hit him it didn't have any effect.

'You really think you can fight a frost giant with ice?' He said. She grinned. 'No.'

Then she drew on the power of the ring she wore. A purple light ray hit him in his chest and threw him back again. He felt down a couple of stairs. She looked down on him. He stumbled to get on his knees. 'You…used magic. You stole that!' He screamed. She shuddered. 'Maybe. It is most helpful, I must give you that. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to save my planet.'

She threw her force in pushing herself in the air by the ice ray. She fled from the castle and asked Heimdall to pick her up.

'Thor can you not touch that! It's worth more than you can afford!' Tony shrieked out. He hated it when they all had to come at his tower. But Fury had insisted on another place to operate. Besides, he had better controlling systems running here than total Shield owned.

Thor looked back at him with an angry look. 'You know I am the prince of Asgard? This petty stuff is nothing compared to the treasures of Asgard.' Tony rolled his eyes. 'I don't really care, princess.'

Thor took a step towards him but Steve jumped in between. 'Okay! That's enough! Stop teasing each other.' Tony needed to walk out of this. He sat down at his desk and started searching for some random files. The first file opening on his screen showed a name and picture:

NAME: SARAH FROSTBLOSSOM

DATE OF BIRTH: UNKNOWN

PLACE OF BIRTH: JOTUNHEIM

STATUS: FROST GIANT, SECURED

So that's what they called it here. Secured. Like she was locked up in a cell somewhere.

Maybe she was. He didn't and couldn't know. She was taken by some kind of frost giant king. He blamed Thor for that. If he had gone with her, he would never had let her go.

'We need to prepare anyway. The risk still exists. This king can be lying,' Clint said. They started discussing the preparation of the army. They only had no idea when or where they would attack. Not even if they would.

'I say we trust Sarah and Barbie here and believe that we are at peace now. Sarah didn't give herself up for nothing,' Tony said with his face turned away from the others.

'Then why didn't they send someone here to tell us that?' Steve tried. Tony got annoyed. He pushed himself from the chair to face the others. 'Look, war comes with distrust. If they promised peace, and we prepare for war, of course there will be war then!'

They started arguing but were interrupted by a loud sound coming from the roof.

'That sounded like the Bifrost,' Thor stated. Tony did not need more information. He sprinted toward the glass door but was too late. She fell down on the balcony and walked towards the door herself. She opened the door and looked into the confused faces. Only Tony's wasn't. She could only see joy in his eyes. 'Sarah!' He screamed out. He hugged her tightly. She flinched from his touch, since he dug his arms in her scars.

'Hey guys,' she said. Tony let go of her to face her. 'I don't understand,' Thor started, 'I thought you had to stay forever.' She walked towards the others. 'Yeah I should. If he would have held his part of the deal,' she said through her teeth.

Everyone turned quiet. They knew what that mend. 'So,' Coulson said after a moment of silence, 'They are coming?' Sarah nodded. 'I'm sorry. I tried to stop it, but I found out he never called his army back. There has never been a deal.'

They turned quiet again. Tony offered Sarah a glass of water. She drunk gratefully. 'What kind of heartless soul is that? Preparing a war, then pretending he wouldn't attack and control you, and then attack anyway? And that at a planet that is so outnumbered in power,' Steve said with a down voice. 'What did he made you do?' Tony added.

She looked down, not wanting to answer that. She couldn't resist the feeling that she liked her memories of last night. But she hated the ones of this morning. Out of anger she threw the glass on the ground, letting it shatter into a thousand pieces.

'I should have known!' she yelled while turning around to pace in the room. 'I shouldn't have expected anything from him!'

'You knew him?' Thor asked. She turned around to face him. She smiled, started to giggle and made weird hand gestures. It was not from humor but from craziness. 'Of course I did! Everyone does! You,' she pointed at Steve, 'You,' she pointed at everyone at a turn ending with Thor, 'And you.'

She pulled at her hair, wanting to rip it from her skull. She screamed from anger. 'What should I have expected from the God of lies! Stupid ignorant girl!'

Everyone was caught off guard. 'What?' Natasha asked. Thor walked up to Sarah. 'What are you saying?' She looked at him without hope. 'Loki,' was all she said.

He shook his head. 'Loki is dead,' he said softly, not really believing himself anymore. She tried to smile and putted a hand on his shoulder. 'He made you believe that. Loki lives. He leads this attack. He is the leader of the frost giants. He…' She swallowed. 'What is it?' Thor demanded. She took a deep breath. 'He killed your father. He pretended to be him for all this time. He was king of Asgard and Jotunheim.'

Thor took a step back and fell in a chair. 'No…it can't be…How could I not have seen that?'

She pitied Thor. He lost his father and got his twisted brother in return. More like a bag full of trouble. 'Loki…lives,' Fury said. 'And he plans to send an army to destroy earth…again.'

Sarah nodded. Tony got out of his thoughts. 'So, what did he let you do?' he repeated.

She closed her eyes. 'I'd rather not talk about it.' Tony clutched his fists.

'But that is not what matters now,' Sarah continued, 'What does is that we need to be prepared. The army of Asgard has to come, but we can't count on 'Odin's' help. Thor, you need to prepare the army without letting Loki know. Maybe he is so busy with the frost giants that he will stay in Jotunheim. But remember, when you find your father, don't show you know who he really is. Do not trust him.'

Thor nodded. 'You are right. I know what to do. I shall return as soon as possible.' He walked out to the balcony and swung Mjolnir around to find a place to use the Bifrost. Sarah turned to Fury. 'Everyone of Shield and the armies we can get need to prepare. It cannot take much longer. They will come through portals. Mostly they spread around the world.'

'You know where we can find them?' He asked. She shook her head. 'I am afraid I have been looking for them for my entire life. And in all those years I didn't even came close. The only lead we have are the storms. It would make sense if they appeared on the places of the portals.'

'Good, let's track the origin of each of them as exactly as possible,' He said to Coulson. They all prepared to leave the Stark tower and go to the training areas. 'I might have an idea about the one in Europe,' Sarah added.

'Good, we will send our team around the world. We need to spread the word. People need to stay inside and evacuate from the storm centers. Every two of you take a continent.'

'Sarah and I will go to Europe,' Tony said. He walked over to his suit. Sarah prepared to jump out of the window. When Tony was ready she turned around once more to face the others.

'Prepare for war.'


	11. Chapter 11: Who's that girl?

**Chapter eleven: Who's that girl?**

If there would have been someone at sea that watched up to the sky, he wouldn't have believed his eyes. He would have seen a flying metal man and a girl walking on the clouds. That's how they crossed the Atlantic Ocean. They didn't speak, for Sarah had to concentrate on what she was doing.

After an hour they ended up in London. There they fell from the sky. People were pointing at them. Some cheered. They found a stage that was built for a speech of the mayor. Some men of the security rushed up the stage.

'You can't be here,' the first said. Sarah moved her hands through her hair to kind of bring it back in model. 'This is important. It's about the safety of this planet. Gather all kind of press around here as quick as possible. Send this out in all the countries of Europe. Come on, get to it!'

The men were confused at once what to do, but then they started calling and planning. Tony and Sarah paced around on the stage while more and more press gathered on the square. 'How do we bring this?' Tony asked. Sarah shuddered. 'Right to the point. We don't have any time to waist.'

After twenty minutes more than two hundred media people looked at the two figures. The security had given them a microphone. 'Let's do this,' Sarah said, tired of waiting. Tony opened his helmet so he could face the media. 'Okay everybody listen up!' Within a second it was dead silent.

'We are here to bring a very important message. We are afraid it is no positive one.' Tony paused to let that sink in. 'We must inform you that we are facing a global threat. Creatures from another planet planned to destroy this one.'

'Are those the same that attacked New York?' One man yelled.

Sarah took the microphone. 'No. What we are facing now, are frost giants. These people live in a world of ice and darkness. They know very little about compassion, and they are here to destroy, not rule. They are not interested in anything else that our deaths.'

The crowd started to speak up and make an increasingly louder noise. 'Is there nothing we can do?' A woman called out in despair. 'Yes. There are people ready to fight them. Amongst them is the team of Avengers that saved New York. But we also need to ask something from the people. Please, try to stay inside if possible. If you live in cold areas, if possible, try to take a flight to a warmer place. There is a big possibility that these giants will attack in colder areas, so they will be in advantage.'

'Does that mean heat makes them weak?'

'Unfortunately, it doesn't. No outside circumstances makes them weak. There are very little ways to kill them. But we do know how, so we are ready for battle.' She let the microphone drop for a moment so people could adjust to this information. Tony leaned over to her. 'Don't forget to tell them not to interact.'

Sarah continued to tell that they cannot defeat them by guns or knives, and that if you would face one, your only option is to run. 'Right now our fellow fighters are bringing this message around the globe to inform anyone. We have leads as where the attacks will happen, so people will be evacuated from those areas.'

Sarah handed the microphone over to Tony. 'This was all we need to say. Are there very important questions right now?'

'Who is the girl?' one woman yelled a little ungrateful. 'This is Sarah. She will help us defeat these monsters and save the planet,' Tony explained.

'Is she one of the Avengers? What is her super power?' The mumbling rose again. Sarah took the microphone from Tony and took a step forward. 'The world is in danger. People might die every minute now. Gigantic frost giants will try to destroy this planet, and all you are interested in is what I can do? I'll leave you with this: I am ready to fight.'

With that they both took off, aiming for the battlefield.


	12. Chapter 12: the battle for Earth

**Chapter twelve: the battle for Earth**

The cold wind raced around the people standing on the field. It was a quiet and peaceful place. For now. The man all held odd looking weapons and wore matching armory. Together with these people were the people that stood ready with nuclear weapons and other big guns. You could smell the fear of this last group. The others didn't show fear, for most of them had faced worse before. But this time the Asgardian and Midgardian army would fight together against the Jotun one.

Not everyone was on that field. Not by far. The parties split around the globe. One group at every place where a storm started. At first they weren't all too sure about these locations, but then they found the origin of the first storm, and that made it all sense: Norway.

Sarah was standing high above the divided army that was standing down in the Valley. She hid herself in the mountains surrounding the area. At her spot she was alone, but a couple of miles from her where others. She didn't know all, but she knew Thor and Tony were somewhere out there. The rest of the Avengers were at the other battlefields.

Thor had returned from Asgard only two days ago. He said he hadn't seen Loki or Odin at all. The men listened to him without a second word. Luckily, for they would probably not survive without the immortals. Thor had insisted in coming to this place, for it was most likely this would hold the main group of the frost giant army. And for holding Loki. And that was the reason for Tony to insist on coming here. He seemed incredibly pissed at the God of Mischief. Sarah knew why. Tony had guessed what he made her do. She never mentioned it, and definitely not the part where she liked it.

But she hated Loki as well so she needed to come here to. She was so ready to rip some hearts out of these frozen chests. She was not like them, not at all. She wasn't a monster. She knew when killing is needed and when it is not. But now it was.

The air grew chillier and Sarah would have sworn she saw some snow falling. They were already in positions for one and a half hour now. She didn't mind the cold and waiting, but she knew the others did.

Then something seemed to be moving in the air at the other side of the valley. She was placed as far away as possible, to hold her as a secret weapon. But even from her spot she could see something moving. It was the portal opening.

'The portal is opening,' confessed an unknown voice from one of the others in the mountains. They all wore these little earplugs to stay in contact. Sarah placed her hand on the button to speak. 'Soldiers, prepare for battle.'

'Copy,' was the only response. She knew it had to be a human, because the Asgardians had refused to wear those 'boxes filled with voices'.

Now it was clear that a portal opened. The first soldiers from Jotunheim stepped through into the other world. They marched forward at a steady, slow pace. The sound of all these foot stepping together in rhythm was hypnotizing. Many, many soldiers came through the portal. Way more than they expected to be at one place.

_Maybe they would only attack here. In that case we are not with enough to face them. _

But then her fear was washed away by a message on her ear. 'I just received a message from the other armies in Canada and China. They face a group as well. Around two thousand men, so far confessed,' spoke Coulson.

They counted on something like three thousand per place. The possibility of a bigger number here was almost certain. And indeed, many more soldiers passed through. The rush of blue giants stopped by a remarkable figure closing the row. He wore a green, black and golden armor with a golden helmet, that formed two horns.

Loki. Sarah gritted her teeth. At least she was happy he was here, what would mean the other armies would be smaller. The number of soldiers were around six thousand. A little more than they had predicted.

But that would not stop one person. Everyone came here to fight until death.

The group of giants stopped in position. One moment Sarah would have hoped Loki would first ask for peace, but no such sign. He stood on top of a large rock and shouted over his people. Even Sarah could hear it. 'ATTACK!'

Within a second the frost giants moved forward. The other army did the same. Sarah looked closely at the first crashing battles. Within seconds it was all chaos.

'Attack!' Tony shouted through the earplug. Then she saw a red dot rising form the mountains and started firing little rockets at the frost giants. Thor jumped up as well, smashing his hammed in the middle of a huge group giants. Most of them fell over.

Sarah noticed she was still in her spot without moving. 'I'm going in,' she announced. With that she threw herself in the air, racing over the battle field. She threw herself in a group of confused frost giants. With her impact she also threw over some giants, but not even close to the number of Thor's. She made a circle of ice around her in an attempt to freeze them. Like she expected it did nothing to them. But they were distracted so she could pull on the magic from the ring she was still wearing. She killed two of them and injured one other. She jumped on the first one to attack her and stuck her hand in his chest. With a forceful pull she held his heart in her hand and crushed it in a second. He fell to the floor. She continued with the next until all of them were heartless. She only had one slight cut from ones fingernails that cut in her arm. She threw the loose hairs out of her face and started to smile mischievously.

'This is fun!' she screamed out. 'Don't get too excited,' Tony said in her ear, 'We need you on our side.' Sarah rolled her eyes. 'Don't worry about that.'

Sarah launched herself in the next group of frost giants, ripping hearts out at an incredible speed. Within a minute she let ten bodies fall to the ground. She dared to look around her. War cries were heard everywhere, together with cries of despair and last breaths. She saw the Asgardians rush through the crowds, while the humans had a little more difficulty with the giants standing in front of them. Tony still flew over everyone's heads, shooting with his lasers. Thor smashed his way through the blue haze. Sarah looked out for Loki, but could not spot him.

She was ripped from her thoughts by a loud PANG and an alarming shot of pain a second later. She looked down and saw a bullet hole in her stomach. Blood started to pour out of her body. She looked around and spotted the frost giant that held a small gun he must have taken from a human.

He believed he just killed a human. Instead she ripped the bullet from her flesh and jumped on the giant. He fell to the ground, where she climbed on him and searched for his heart. She ripped the cold stone out of his chest and the body fell immobile to the ground. She shattered the cold stone in her hand. Hearts of frost giants didn't beat.

She looked up to find her next victim. Then suddenly she was short of breath. Like an invisible hand grasping her throat. She choked and tried to fight it, but it was too strong.

'You have been fighting bravely so far,' a voice from behind said, 'but now it is over.' Still within the grasp of the invisible hand she managed to turn around and find her attacker. Not like she didn't already know. 'Not even close Loki,' she choked out. 'I just got started.'

With that she drew on the magic of her ring and broke his spell. She was free at once, jumping on Loki the next second. He saw her coming and drew his staff as protection. She knew from the mythology what she was facing: Gungnir. It was a spear as much as an staff, that used to belong to Odin. It was a magical weapon. She really had to look out with that thing.

Sarah and Loki fought without interruption. Loki was stronger, but Sarah didn't feel like giving up. Even if he would kill her. She would not want another way to die than for the greater good. She tried to get hold on Gungnir, for she knew that was his biggest weapon. Without that, he was just a frost giant with some illusion spells.

Once in the fight Loki reacted too quick for Sarah to respond and threw her through the air. She crashed into the mountains a couple of miles away from the great battlefield. No one could see them from here. It alarmed Sarah the moment she stood up. She needed to go back. But there was Loki again, hitting her against the rock, making it rumble. She fell limp, trying to catch her breath.

'Had enough already?' Loki asked with that annoying wicked smile on his face. She tried to push herself up from the rocks. A huge cut formed from her forehead over her cheek. She was broken and bruised everywhere. She didn't have the energy to restore her body now. 'Never,' she whispered.

Loki took her by her shoulder and putted her on her feet. He steadied her. 'You know, I really admire your strength. If you weren't fighting me I would have gladly made you my queen. And you are the only person I ever found to be. You should feel honored.'

She closed her eyes and tried to let her strength grow back. She was so tired. A part of her wanted to beg for death. But she couldn't let him win. Not him in personal, but she couldn't let the world down either. 'Maybe I would be,' she said softly, 'If I could trust you.'

Somehow that gave her strength. The idea of how angry she was with him. She pulled on the ring and drew all her power to her fist. Her hand started glowing purple. She took a deep breath and threw in all force to hit Loki in the stomach. And it worked. Loki flew back and fell of the mountain. Down and down he tumbled until he hit the ground. The staff fell from his hand and landed a little of. Sarah took no second longer and jumped after the weapon. She reached it before Loki could move. She pointed the staff at Loki and drew on its power. A green light flew out and hit Loki so he rolled over a little further. He groaned from the pain. Sarah walked after him. 'Let's see what you are without this.'

She pointed the weapon at him and hit him again. He screamed for mercy. But he would not get it. What Sarah did not notice was that Thor noticed them and looked out for them. But he was too busy to help. Loki laid motionless in the dirt. She grabbed him to pull him on his feet. He looked at her through exhausted eyes. Only now they showed fear. He was scared.

'You have had your last moment of torturing others Loki Laufeyson,' she spit in his face. She reached her hand out and dug it in his chest. His eyes popped out and his mouth fell open. A tear left his eye. She could feel the cold rock that functioned as a heart in his chest. She placed her hand around it. If she squeezed now, the God of Mischief, the person that killed so many people, would die.

_Does he really deserve this? _A second thought popped in her head.

_Yes_ said the other side.

_Death is so easy. Changing, that is hard. That is torture. That is what he deserves. What he needs. He needs to see the light again. He needs someone that believes in him._

_Shut up. He had enough chances. _

_But how many did you give?_

She was standing there, still with her hand in his chest, holding life and death. She had to play the role of fate now. But she couldn't. She hated the idea.

Without thinking she withdrew her hand from his chest. He fell to the ground, choking and coughing.

'What are you doing?' asked an angry voice behind her. She turned around and found Thor.

'I...' she tried. Actually she had no idea. She didn't know what she was doing or what she should do.

'Sarah listen. I understand it's hard to do this, but he had so many chances, and every time he betrayed others. He will never change,' Thor stated.

Loki was quiet. By now he cough his breath again but he didn't feel like interfering. He dared looking up at Sarah. She looked down at him.

Beaten. Broken. Fragile. Scared. Everything he wasn't before. Like a child that knew he did something bad and waited for his punishment. She could not bear to look at him so she looked back at Thor. 'I know. But isn't death too easy? It's no punishment for a criminal like him.'

Thor looked down at his brother. 'I think it is the only option.'

Sarah closed her eyes. She tried to think about anything she knew of Loki. Images from the disaster in New York popped up. Then the terrifying smile on his face then their night together….and…

_He cried. _She remembered at once. Her eyes shot open again. She looked down at him. He faced the ground now. She took a deep breath and answered Thor without looking at him. 'No.'

'What?' Thor asked. Loki looked up at her now. 'No I have a better idea. He feels too powerful. We need to take that away. If he is weak he is a different person. That's when our personalities are decided.'

'Sarah that doesn't work for someone like him,' Thor tried. She snapped her head up to look him in the face. 'You really think so? Because the last time a prince of Asgard was a reckless fool and his powers were stripped he did better himself. Didn't he?'

Thor couldn't respond. He knew she was right. 'Do you truly think that would work for him? I know him better than you.'

'Could be. But you didn't see him cry after I broke through his shield!' She yelled out of despair. Loki looked up for a moment but returned to his original position. Thor was really tongue tied this time.

'Please,' Sarah said softer, 'If you don't trust him, then trust me.'

Thor needed to consider that for a moment. 'We don't have all day,' Sarah said.

'Okay! But I need to know anything!' he yelled out. Sarah nodded. 'Good. This is the plan. Nobody saw him disappear, so you are going to tell that you killed him. I will flee from here with him and secure him.'

'And if they want to see his body?' Thor said.

'Tell them you hit him through his brains and he fell off a cliff, somewhere deep.'

Then she turned back to Loki. He dared looking up. 'You make a mistake,' he said.

'Shut up,' she demanded. Then she pointed Gungnir at Loki and demanded it to strip Loki of all his powers and immortality. The staff did what she wanted. Loki yelled in agony. When it was finished he fell to the ground, breathing heavily. 'Go now!' she yelled at Thor. He took off to bring the message to the others. Sarah picked up what was left of Loki and threw him over her shoulder. Now he was mortal he felt much lighter than he was before upon her body. She took off and headed away from the battlefield. She leaped over the frozen clouds, away from the mountains, away from Norway. She flew over Germany and the Netherlands, towards the Island of England. Somewhere in the South of the country she fell down in a deserted area. She walked up to a ring of hills. In the middle of it was an old door. She opened it and walked underground. She searched for the light switch in the dark. Once she found it the hall lit with bright TL lights. She walked through the hall to open one of the cells. The door was bullet proof glass. She typed in the code and opened the door. The cell was square and all white. There was only one door, leading to a little loo.

Loki woke when she threw him on the ground. He looked around him. She just closed the door again. 'Where am I?' he asked. Sarah gestured around her. 'An old Shield prison. I found it after they abandoned it. They planned on destroying it, but the trigger never worked. So I disabled it and now it's my personal thinking spot. And now the place for my prisoner.'

Loki was so tired he couldn't ask further. With that she really had to go back. 'I'll be back tonight with some food and water. Don't waste your time on screaming for help, you are in the middle of nowhere.'

She walked away and closed the outside door again. She took off, back to Norway.


	13. Chapter 13: pain, lies and exhaustion

**Chapter twelve: pain, lies and exhaustion **

Thor felt very much at unease with the lie in his mind. But he knew it was for the best.

'_But you didn't see him cry!' _Sarah had said. That had really shocked Thor. He couldn't believe Loki really cried.

He walked over the grass field that was filled with dead bodies, loads of blood and a dreadful smell. Thor became used to it after all these wars, but it was never easy. He walked up to the group of remaining people. A last frost giant was brought to death by one of those human weapons. Tony noticed Thor when he walked up.

'Thor! We thought you were gone. Have you seen Loki? Or Sarah?' Now everyone was looking at him. Thor felt uneasy with lying but he could do it. 'Loki is dead.'

Everyone was shocked. 'Really?' Tony asked. Thor nodded. 'We had a fight in the mountains. I managed to get hold on one of your Midgardian weapons and accidentally shot him through the head. He felt backwards from a cliff. I tried to go down but it was too dangerous.'

'And you are sure he is dead?' Tony asked in disbelief. Thor only nodded, hoping his grief would be convincing. Tony dropped the matter. 'And Sarah?'

'No idea,' Thor answered. Tony looked down, disappointed.

'Look!' someone screamed. Tony and Thor both looked up to where the man was pointing in the sky. They saw a small dark dot coming closer. The air around it changed when it moved. The figure fell down next to the group of people. Sarah stood up and walked over to them.

'Where are you coming from?' asked Tony. He tried to sound steady, but he was really just happy she was still alive. Sarah stroked a couple of hairs out of her face. 'A little up to the south. Some ice giants tried to run away, but I found all of them.'

Sarah and Thor shared a glare for a moment. Then she looked back at Tony. 'So, the war is over?'

Tony looked at Thor. 'He killed Loki. Some giants fled back through the portals. Shield managed to destroy them. No one is walking in this world again.'

Sarah tried to look shocked. 'Loki is dead?' Thor nodded. Then he turned to Coulson, who just walked up. 'Any information about the other places?'

'Yes. Everywhere the frost giants are gone. We won. We heard about many deaths of humans and Asgardians, but so far I haven't heard about an Avenger.'

All three of them nodded in respect. 'They fought bravely and for the right course. May their souls rest in peace,' Sarah said softly.

And that was the moment she felt incredibly guilty. Many had died. But the leader was still alive. She thought he was worth saving, after it was his doing that all these people were dead. She needed to get away from this sight. She turned around to Coulson. 'Let's go. There is nothing left here. I need to get out of here.'

Coulson nodded and he started walking. Sarah followed him. Then she felt a strong grip on her shoulder. She turned around quickly as a reflex. It was Tony. He looked broken and angry.

'What is it?' Sarah said a bit rough. Tony looked up. She could see his eyes started to water. 'Nothing I just…' Sarah realized she had been a different person since she came back from Loki's imprisonment. The only reason she saw it was because Tony's eyes reflected her new self. 'I'm just happy you're okay,' he finished. Sarah had to show a truthful smile. Tony had been the best friend she could imagine. She closed the distance and hugged his hard, cold suit. Nevertheless he drew his arms around her and hugged her back. He was holding on quite tightly, but she didn't care. He couldn't squeeze her. 'I'm happy to have you too,' she whispered. A couple of tears started to stream over her cheeks. 'I changed, didn't I?'

Tony pulled his head back to look at her. A couple of tears were visible on his face too. 'I'm happy you see it yourself.' Sarah looked down. 'I'm sorry. I was just so angry.'

'And you had all reason. But it's over now. He's dead,' Tony answered. He pulled her back in the hug. Sarah couldn't give in this time. She felt guilty. Again.

_Maybe it was the wrong decision._

That evening Sarah strolled through a night shop to look for some food. After the war everyone of Shield gathered to meet back up. No matter how much she wanted to see for herself whether the others were okay, for example Feya, she had to refuse. She told them she had to take care of some things. She let the emotion float so that they would let her alone. After that she set course for England. She found a local little supermarket.

After collecting some things she hobbled over the heath until she found the circle of hills.

Loki awoke from the sound of the heavy door opening. He had tried to listen to sounds from outside, but failed to notice anything. It was dead silent. That could be because the walls were very thick, but also because his hearing was better as an immortal. Sarah showed herself for his cell and opened the door. She looked terrible. Most of it he was to blame for.

'Missed me?' she joked. Loki remained silent. His attention was on the bag she was holding. 'Do you have water?' he whispered. His throat was so dry. She searched in the bag and threw a bottle of water to him. After that she sat on the ground opposite to him and started to spill the containments of the bag. 'I have bread, salads, meatballs and a lot more. Oh and I thought you might need this.'

She pulled out a large blanket. She chuckled. 'I never really needed one. But you know, since you're mortal.' Loki couldn't laugh. He just drunk the water and ate one apple she brought. Sarah shifted in her position what made the bullet hole in her stomach ache like fire. She hissed. Loki looked at the wound. 'You can heal that.' She shook her head. 'No. I'm far too tired. I wouldn't risk fainting over it. I better get some sleep first.'

Loki expected she would head for the door but she didn't. Instead she settled down against the wall and made herself comfortable. She closed her eyes and let her breathing go deeper. Every breath hurts. Loki remained quiet and shoved into the other corner. He thought the blanket was stupid. He closed his eyes and rested.

It remained quiet for a little while. Minutes passed by. Then Sarah started to chuckle softy. Loki looked over at her. Her eyes were still closed, but her mouth was curled into a smile. 'Odd isn't it?' Loki didn't know what to answer, so he just waited. 'Some days ago we were together as well. But we were in a golden castle. In a breathtaking place. In a wonderful room. And everything was yours. The place, the castle, the room…me. And now, the tables have turned. You are mine now. Your fate is mine to decide. You have no power, no army, no Asgard, no glory and no slave.' She opened her eyes to look at Loki. He looked forward, trying not to face her. 'If you knew this would happen, would you have stayed in the bed that morning? Would you have kept the deal?'

Loki didn't move. He was trying to hold up a poker face, but the anger was clearly to read. 'No,' he answered. Sarah pulled up an eyebrow. 'Why?' Loki turned his head to face her. His eyes could spit fire. 'Because I fought for a great purpose. Because you couldn't make me happy.'

'And are you happy now?'

'I was on the battlefield. When my people crushed these pathetic mortals.'

'You realize these pathetic mortal defeated you and you are one now?'

'No, Thor, the army of Asgardians and you defeated them.'

Sarah rolled her eyes and sighted. 'Whatever.' She closed her eyes again and tried to rest. Loki kept looking forward. He was thinking about what she said. Maybe this was a bad idea. He lost Asgard, Jotunheim and Midgard in one day. He basically lost everything. All he had, was her. And actually he was hers. He didn't own her this time. He couldn't even try, since she was immortal and he was not. He dared looking at her. There was a bloodstain dripping from her head over her cheek. There were several cuts and bruises over her displayed arms and legs. Her clothing was ripped and covered in dirt. On her belly was a huge bloodstain with a bullet hole in her shirt and flesh. And her throat was almost black from the strangling. She didn't give up easily. She was a strong woman. But he already knew that when she gave herself up for peace. She moved her head and Loki turned his gaze quickly to the glass door. She didn't open her eyes when she spoke.

'I don't care if you lie to me, as long as you are not lying to yourself,' she whispered, exhausted. After that she fell asleep. Loki pulled the blanket over him when she was sleeping and drifted off as well.


	14. Chapter 14: drunk

**Chapter fourteen: Drunk **

The next morning Sarah woke up, a little disorientated. The moment she didn't feel any clothing on her she remembered anything. She looked over her shoulder and saw Loki sleeping, still facing the wall. Without thinking she placed a kiss on his cheek and left the bed. She face palmed herself when she realized her clothing was no more. She had the skirt. She searched around to find a vest she had given Loki if it went cold in here. She zipped it up and turned around to leave. Unfortunately her foot caught on a leg of the chair and she nearly fell down on the ground. The sound she produced awakened Loki. He turned around confused, rubbing his eyes.

'What are you doing?' he asked.

'Being stupid, that's all,' she said back. 'I'm leaving. I'll be back with your dinner. There is still food in that bag you can eat now.'

She turned towards the door. 'Wait,' Loki called. She turned around. _Please, pass my test._

Loki hesitated and rubbed his hand over the back of his neck. 'I believe I still have immortality.'

She nodded slowly. 'So you do.' He looked up as if she made a joke. 'So, are you going to take it again?'

She couldn't help but smile widely. 'No. Because you are honest with me you can keep it. But give me a reason to not trust you with it and I will take it away.'

He only nodded. She could see in his eyes that he was very grateful. 'Oh, and before you try, this prison is immortal-proof. I thought better safe you the effort in trying. Have a nice day!'

She opened the door and left. Loki finally let his smile see as he shook his head at her.

She walked through the neighbor of her house when she ran into two girls that were laughing together. They saw Sarah pass by in her poor clothing and both looked at her with an 'I'm sorry' look. She laughed back at them. Girls always understand girls.

That day started off with some interviews she didn't enjoy so much. The interviewer looked at her like she could eat him. Well, she probably could…but still.

Later that day she flew over to the Stark tower. She entered through the window this time. Both of the scientist hadn't noticed her. That placed her in a prank mode. She found both of them hanging over a screen. 'So basically we need to measure this when she turns blue,' Bruce said.

'Jeez, she is so creepy that way. It makes a shiver go down my spine every time. Do you think frost giants ever eat humans?' Tony asked.

'Only when humans annoy them,' Sarah said with a dark voice. If that didn't already startle them enough once they turned around they looked into the red piercing eyes of her frost giant form. They both screamed at the top of their lungs. Sarah fell back against a desk, laughing out loud.

'You sound like little girls!' she said in between her laugh attacks. She held her stomach because it ached. They both held their heart, trying to calm it down. 'That was not funny,' Tony breathed.

Sarah looked at him, stopping for a moment. 'Yes it was. At least for me! I thought you weren't afraid of a girl. But apparently I'm frightening!'

Bruce shook his head and showed a shy smile. 'Al right you got us. Now, let's celebrate that you are here and I…didn't wreck anything.' Sarah had to admit she forgotten all about the Hulk that moment. She slammed her hands for her mouth. 'I'm sorry! I totally forgot!'

He stared in her eyes. 'I see that more of a compliment than something to be sorry about.' She smiled back at him. 'I wouldn't do it again. Promised.'

Tony walked over to another table that held a plate with a whiskey bottle and some glasses. 'Well, I agree on the part of celebrating. Let's have a drink.'

And already at that moment everything went wrong. It normally took longer for a frost giant to get drunk, since they are made of thicker material. But Sarah often forgot how much her life on earth inflected on her. She told herself she couldn't get drunk, and that she could always go on. That, in combination with Tony Stark, is no good combination.

In the beginning everything went well. Her mood from the interviews was easily washed away by her prank and the company of the two men. They ran some mental tests, but they also used their devices on her this time. Most of the results were yet a puzzle to discover for them, but it gave them a start.

'So we can do the X-ray now,' Bruce said later that afternoon. Sarah just threw back another shot with Tony. 'you have that here?' she asked once her mouth was empty. Bruce let her to a small room that was much darker. He switched on the light and the room revealed a X-ray scan. 'Cool,' she responded. 'So, you need to take of your clothing for this,' Tony said a little to enthusiast.

She looked back at Bruce but also he nodded. 'Right,' she said. She closed the door after shutting Bruce out. For a moment she hoped they wouldn't see her in her underwear, but then she noticed the shuttered glass. They saw her, she didn't see them.

She grunted but removed her shirt and pants. She stepped in the device and looked up the black glass. 'I'm ready,' she said. A voice came from the speakers. 'Alright. You need to stand very still, with your front pushed to the glass. I will tell you when it turns on,' Bruce said.

She only hoped Tony wasn't getting to excited.

After a long day of testing, questioning and writing they relaxed in the penthouse on the top floor. They still drunk a lot and Sarah was getting very light in her head. Tony and Bruce shared some superhero stories of villains they defeated. Sarah wasn't really listening anymore. But she laughed at everything.

'How about you?' Tony asked her at once. 'About what?' she asked.

'Did you ever take a mighty beast down?' Tony said corny. She looked up at the ceiling and searched in her memories. 'Yeah, well if you count a huge popular high school teenager a beast. He tried to flirt with me. Then one day we had self-defense lessons with PE and I threw him on the ground so hard he broke his arm!' The guys started laughing out loud. She joined them. Not caring about anything anymore.

'Poor guy,' Bruce stated. Tony looked at him. 'I guess every man that flirts with her ends like that. Better take your distance Bruce,' he said while pointing his finger at him. Bruce rolled his eyes. 'You're telling me,' he said softly in his glass. Of course Sarah could hear it. But her thoughts travelled somewhere else.

_Loki still needs dinner,_ she remembered. She raised from the couch to fall right back in it. Her legs wobbled under her. 'Sorry did that offend you?' Tony asked after seeing her struggle to leave.

'No, no. I just think it's time to go home. Still have a ocean to cross,' she said with a giggle.

'You can stay here if you want, no problem,' Tony said.

She shook her head. 'No thanks. I still have some things to do. I will see you later.'

Tony stood up to give her a goodbye hug. 'Okay, don't crash into the ocean little mermaid.' At this moment she could only smile at his words. She hugged Bruce and took off.

Loki spend the day doing something new: drawing. In the bag from last night she brought a notebook and a pen, a pencil and a sharpener. He started with writing poems from his last battle, but soon he found himself in a depressing mood. He didn't wish to bring up the memories of his loss and the hating glare in Sarah's eyes when she nearly killed him. He didn't admit, but he have had a couple of nightmares were she did kill him. He was a little scared of her. He saw her defeating him. She is probably stronger in physical strength.

After thinking about something he started drawing the one thing he could remember out of his head: Sarah. He drew her is a Jotun outfit that the women wore there. He liked how it fitted with her blue skin.

Much later when he was busy on his fifth drawing of Sarah he heard some noise by the door. He clapped the book shut and threw it into a drawer. He raised from his chair. He prepared to walk in circles, the way he wanted her to find him every time. But then instead of footsteps he heard some louder sound, like something fell down on the hard floor. He walked up to the glass and saw Sarah collecting herself up from the ground. She steadied herself against the wall and rubbed her head.

Loki rolled his eyes. _Great. She is drunk._

She showed up before the glass and looked absent at Loki. 'Had a great evening I see?' Loki said annoyed. She grinned a distant grin. 'Eheheh…yeah…'

He sighed. 'So, did you bring me food?' She looked at him with hollow eyes. It took a few minutes before she processed the words in her head. 'Food?' she spat out.

'Never mind. You better sit down,' Loki said. He was angry at her, but at the same time he wanted to take care of her. She shook her head and held it a moment later, clearly it wasn't a good idea. 'No, no. I will get you f-food. B-be right back.' With that she hobbled towards the exit. Loki grunted. 'How could she even move now?'

Sarah strode over the field toward the castoff supermarket. The bright light of the TL-lights in the shop cleared her head a little. She walked a little straighter when she walked up to the cashier. She only took one salad for now, the only thing she could make sense of to buy now.

Once she was outside she wanted to walk back in the fields. But a voice behind her startled her. 'Well I do wonder what you are doing here.' The scariest about the voice was the robotic sound. She turned around to find Tony in his suit. Her eyes grew large.

'Tony!' she screamed. 'Yeah me. Now tell me, what brings you _here?'_ he asked while holding his arms out. She wasn't very clear in her mind, but she did manage to come up with a story. 'I live nearby. I was still hungry so I stopped hear. To uh…clear my mind before going further.'

Tony opened the mask to look her in the eyes. He seemed to buy it. Then she pointed a finger at him when she started to think. 'But how did you come here?'

Tony turned a little away from her. 'Well…' Sarah waited. 'Okay I wanted to make sure you would come home safely.'

Sarah snorted. 'You are just as drunk as I am.' Tony took a step closer. 'Yes, but I can handle it better. Now, how about I take you back, safely in my home?' He putted his iron hands on her shoulders. Sarah looked up at him. In his suit he was a little longer. She couldn't just take off to walk back to Loki. He was already way to close to her darkest secret. 'Sure,' she said uncertain. Nevertheless it gave Tony a big smile while he closed his headpiece again. 'I will carry you. Hold on.' She threw the salad on the ground and clung herself to the hard suit.

Tony didn't take her to the Stark tower, but to his mansion in California. Once they were there they started talking a little in the huge main room of the building. The radio played softly on the background.

'So what did you think of Asgard?' Tony asked after she started telling him the events in the other realms. 'It was beautiful. Everything was so big and shiny…the nature looked to pure.'

Tony wrinkled his nose. 'Hmm, only the fact that people like Thor and Loki come from that place is enough for me to never go there.' Sarah looked down and played a little with her shirt.

'Hey,' Tony said, holding up a finger. She looked at him. 'What?' He stood up and walked over to her. 'This song is great. Come on let's dance!' He commanded the radio to raise the volume. At this point Sarah wasn't thinking at all, so she accepted it with a smile.

They danced through the room. The song had quite a fast rhythm so she floated over the floor, laughing out loud. The song slowed down and Tony pulled her closer. He placed a hand on her waist and held her hand with the other.

'You see, I'm quite a good dancer,' he praised himself. She giggled. 'Yes you are.' He looked right in her eyes. They were very close to each other. Sarah startled to feel some urge in her to reach for him. Maybe it was just the alcohol, but she wanted it nevertheless. But she didn't need to think about it any longer when Tony reached for her lips and kissed her. It felt like no pressure at all. After all he was mortal. He pulled back to look at her again.

'Do I need to apologize?' Tony asked softly. Sarah smiled. 'No,' she whispered back. This time she reached out to kiss him, but with more force. It startled him a little when she went so rough, but he could have expected it from a frost giant. She pulled back for him.

'I nearly forgot how strong you are,' he breathed a little of guard. 'Never forget that,' she whispered a little to seductive. She laid her head on his shoulder and smoothly kissed his neck. His eyes rolled up from the touch. 'Let's take this somewhere else,' he suggested. 'What you want, Mr. Stark.'


	15. Chapter 15: ghosts of the past

**Chapter fifteen: ghosts of the past**

An annoying throbbing feeling in her head woke Sarah up. She pushed herself up and rubbed her eyes. Her head was aching so badly.

Every. Damn. Time. _I freaking always forget to stop!_

She looked over her shoulder to the figure next to her. Covered in a thin blanket lay Tony. She hid her face in her hands. 'Idiot!' she whispered in herself. She checked his body. She wanted to know whether he still breathed and how bad his bruises were. At least he was alive. That was her first moment of comfort. But after she saw the huge blue marks on his sides that feeling disappeared.

She left the bed swiftly and was happy to see that her clothes where still whole. Tony didn't have the strength to tear them so easily. She left the mansion after leaving a little note in his bed.

_I'm sorry, _was all it said.

She went back to England. She bought a lot of food and some painkillers. This time she picked some nicer treats, like chocolate. She had to make up for not feeding him. She couldn't remember whether she ever passed by or not.

Once she found the bunker she moved in, trying not to make a sound. She found Loki lying in his bed. She sneaked in and sat down on the bed. She silently unpacked the food and putted it on the desk.

'You are earlier awake then I expected,' the still body suddenly said. Sarah froze in the middle of reaching to the desk. Loki turned around to face her. His eyes stern. 'Morning?' Sarah said uneasy. Loki pushed himself up. She noticed that he was fully dressed. She wondered how long he had been waiting on her. She dropped her cheery cloak and sighed deeply.

'I'm sorry I forgot your dinner,' she started.

'O you didn't forget. You came here and told me you would get it. You just never returned. So tell me, did you fall asleep on your way?'

Sarah swallowed uneasy. 'I…was followed,' she confessed. 'That's why I couldn't return to you.'

Loki raised an eyebrow. 'Did this person find you here?' Sarah shook her head. 'A little away at a night shop.'

'Who was it?'

She remained quiet. Somehow she felt guilty. For both of them. They both didn't know about the other being involved in her sex life. She wanted to lie, but couldn't. Not against him.

'Who was it?' he repeated, a little slower. He watched her intensely, trying to get her eyes to meet his. She sighed.

'Tony.'

Loki remained quiet, processing why that would be so hard for her to tell. Loki's mind raced through everything he knew of the annoying iron man. He was a spoiled rich man, that took a different woman every night. But Sarah would never be like that. Nevertheless, she was drunk, another thing he was known for. He knew Stark had also been on the battlefield, along with Thor and Sarah. What if he fancied her…that would be the reason to be there…the reason to make her drunk…the reason to follow her…

Loki started to breath heavier. 'Were you with _him?_ Did you sleep with him?'

That was enough for Sarah. She took off from the bed. It surprised her that he figured everything out so easily, without ever having seen Tony around her. She placed a hand on the chair. 'I brought you some extra food, to make up. I will be leaving again. I will see you tonight.'

She couldn't watch him anymore. He looked away from her back as well. 'We will see,' he said, withholding his anger. With that she left.

Today she had to make up with him. She still had a promise to keep with him. She would bring him some books. And she knew just were to get them. She stepped in an open field, away from anyone and looked up. 'Heimdall, open the Bifrost!' she screamed. Only now she felt the pain of the arrested shield agent. The difference was that she actually got the Bifrost to open. The light took her up in the skies. She landed in the round golden chamber. She found Heimdall easily.

For a moment she wondered if he would know. 'Good morning my lady,' he said. She nodded shortly. 'Hello Heimdall. Is Thor in the castle?'

The man watched her for a moment before answering. 'Yes, you will find him in the throne chamber, my lady.'

'Thank you.'

She walked away quickly. She hoped the man didn't know. She knew he knew all, but maybe the power of Loki somehow still held a curtain up.

She walked over the bridge towards the huge castle. It was as beautiful as ever. She entered through the main gate and walked in the throne chambers. Thor watched up from a conversation with a nobleman when the doors opened for her.

'Sarah!' he called out. She couldn't help the smile on her face to see her friend again. She hugged him tightly. 'Hello Thor. Good to see you again. Or shall I say my king?' she joked.

Thor shook his head. 'I'm not your king, so please don't do that.' She clapped him on the shoulder. 'Good to see you again.' Thor looked at her with his light blue eyes. 'So it is. But I wonder what the reason of your arrival is. Please know that you are always welcome, but I just wonder.'

Sarah held up her hands. 'Of course, I'm sorry. I have a favor to ask from you.' Thor looked around to make the other man had left. 'Is this about my brother?' he asked silently. Sarah nodded. 'Then we shall discuss somewhere else. Are you interested in supper?'

They ate together with some other nobleman. She met his companions, the warriors Three and lady Sif. Thor almost forgot that no one else was missing, when he started to introduce his brother. He must have always been with the group. The eyes of the people turned down when Thor made the mistake. One day maybe, they could know he was still out there. Maybe.

After the lunch Thor walked her through the castle. 'So what do you think of my home?' he asked after some explanation about the chambers. She let out the fact that she was in one of the chambers before. Thor hadn't guessed, so she had no intention in telling him. 'It's breathtaking.'

'But tell me, what is the favor you asked of me?' Thor said after a little silence. Sarah looked forward. 'I wanted to give him something to do. I believe he found his time in reading. Can you point me to a library?' Thor stopped walking and stared at her. 'You want to give him something to do? I thought you would punish him, not spoil him.'

Sarah shook her head. 'That doesn't work. You must have seen him the last time in prison. At least I have seen him afterwards, and it didn't do him any good. That's why I'm trying to bring back the man he once was.' Thor looked at her for some time before sighing. 'If you think it's possible.'

Sarah walked past him. 'I do.'

Thor didn't bring her to a library, be brought her to Loki's chamber. It wasn't the one she had spent a night, this one was really his domain. Or at least it was before he turned against his family. She noticed that everything seemed clean and dusted. Thor must cherish the memories of his brother in better times. Sarah could absolutely imagine why.

She walked over to the far wall next to the huge bed. On the wall was a painting of a very young Loki and another older woman. She assumed it was his mother. They both smiled brightly.

'He was very close to her, wasn't he?' Sarah asked. Thor turned away from the bookshelf and looked up to his diseased mother. 'Yes. He always had a bond with her I could never live up to. But the other way around I was closer with my father.' Thor stood next to her. He sighed and dropped his shoulders. 'It's so empty in this castle. I miss the old days so much. I might have improved on behavior, but at the same time I lost all the family I had.'

Sarah looked up at him. She expected him to cry, but he didn't. She swallowed. 'Maybe one day you can have your brother back,' she said softly. He looked down in her eyes and he saw she spoke truly. 'You really believe in him, don't you?'

She only nodded. Thor chuckled. 'I will remember that.'

He took her to the collection of books and marked a couple he loved to read and a couple he hadn't started, as far as Thor could tell. She collected them in a little bag. Thor sat down an big armchair. She settled down in the one opposite him. She looked around in the room and felt the lighter side of Loki. She also understood why he hadn't taken her here, for this place was far too personal.

'What was he like as a child?' Sarah tried.

Thor laughed in himself. 'A troublemaker. We both were. We loved to sneak out and play in the mountains or the forest. Loki was always so smart and patient. Everything I wasn't. On my turn I was stronger and better in speaking up. I always gave up mind games very quickly with him. He loved to defeat me in his own ways. If you would have seen the little boy you would never believe him to be a frost giant.'

Sarah stared at the painting and tried to imagine the two little boys, each other's opposites, sneaking out of the castle or throwing a prank on their father. She smiled at the thought. 'I wished I knew him like that,' she whispered. 'Maybe he will be like that again.'

Thor faced the ground. 'I have no greater wish.'

Thor had already left the room to go back to his duties. He allowed Sarah to walk around wherever she wished to go. She decided to spend her time in Loki´s past chambers. She couldn´t find a lot of personal things. The room was beautiful decorated with the marble and gold, but he wasn´t much a person for trinkets. The painting told her most of him. The others rooms held a lot of books. She found one little notebook that was full of little scrabbles of trees, houses and little animals. Clearly these were from an early age, since she couldn´t find a lot of skill in them.

She sat down on the bed while flipping through the notebook when she noticed a quiet sound. She turned her face to the door and found it slightly open, just enough for someone to peek in.

´Hello?' she called out. There came no response. She shook her head, thinking she must have been mistaking. Then the door opened further and a head peaked around it.

'Hello?' Sarah tried again. The person was an elder man, strays of grey shown beneath his helmet. He had deep wrinkles and a kind face. 'Excuse me my lady,' the man said with a soft and friendly voice, 'I only wondered why you were in here for so long. I came to check on you.'

Sarah smiled a warm smile. 'Everything is okay, thank you. I'm just looking around.'

The man hesitated whether to leave or stay, but there was clearly something on his mind he wanted to say. He sputtered a little as he tried a couple of times. 'Hey,' Sarah said calmly. The man looked up at her. She patted on the bed. 'Come,' she demanded. The man hesitated but moves slowly over to the young looking girl. He sat down a little uneasy. Clearly no one ever asked a guard to sit down.

'I see you spend your time in the chambers of the youngest prince,' he said out of nothing. She looked down at the side of the man's face. He looked down, not feeling bold enough to look her in the eyes. 'I do,' she confessed. 'I…knew him for some time. But more like the man he became, not the man he used to be. Did you know him?'

He man's corners of his mouth curled up in a smile. He looked at her and she saw a glister of joy in his eyes. 'I did my lady,' he said happily, 'I partly raised him when he was just a boy.' Sarah just found a source of information in the man across her. She smiled and started to feel warm inside. 'Really? I would love to know what he was like.'

He man smiled and was about to start, but his smile dropped. He looked at her with careful eyes. 'Who are you? People asked about him before, but they wanted to find his weak points. Everyone judges him from their experiences they have with him now. Now let me tell you, I will always believe in the goodness of his heart.'

Sarah nearly melted at the loyalty. But it also made something very clear: he was worth saving. She wasn't the only one that believed in that. The man shook his head and dropped it in his hands. 'O no. I forgot the young prince died.' Sarah felt so bad for him. But she couldn't just trust this stranger. 'I'm not here to judge,' she said, 'I'm here to learn. I want to know the real Loki.'

The man looked up at her. 'Alright. I think I can trust you. Loki was always a remarkable boy. He learned magic at a very young age and always had some foolery on his mind. It started innocent, like throwing a bucket of water over his father. Later on he nearly unleased a civil war between two villages!' The man laughed it away. Sarah couldn't help but love the way he saw humor in it. 'He loved his brother and his mother. His father, nevertheless, was never one for spending some time alone with him. He never praised him for his cleverness or magic improvements. Thor on the other hand was loaded with compliments.'

Sarah nodded. 'I picked up on that part.' The man continued. 'If I could go back in time and you told me that boy would become the man that died on Earth, I would laugh in your face. He was up for trouble, but he was never evil.' The man looked back at Sarah. 'He was never evil. There isn't a moment I could say that. Not even when he rejected my help and accidentally cut of my hand.'

Only now did she notice the metal hand on his right arm. She reacted shocked. 'Accidentally?' she couldn't really imagine how one did that as an accident. The man laughed. 'Oh he never intended to hurt me. It was before he went to Earth with that tesseract. Everyone thought him dead, but he came back one evening to collect some weapons. I was in his room, mourning, when I spotted him. I promised I wouldn't tell anyone about him. I wanted to help him. But he rejected it, saying he needed to do things on his own. I sensed he was going to do something dark so I tried to reason with him. He was getting tired of me and threw a knife at me he was holding. It cut off my hand. I can still see the shock in his eyes when he saw what he had done. He took off and I never saw him again. Only recently my new king told me he pretended to be king Odin for some time. So in fact I have seen him again.' The man smiled pleased.

Sarah couldn't help her eyes started watering. She was so touched by the trust he had in the criminal. She picked away a tear. 'Do you think…' she had to stop to let a sob pass by, 'that he is still capable of turning good? I mean, if he was still alive?'

The man laughed, and she had the feeling she had said something stupid. 'You didn't listen. He has always been good. Only bad things happened to him.' Sarah laughed with him. 'You are right,' she whispered. The man stared in her eyes. 'He just needs the right person to show him,' he said.

Sarah felt like he could see right through her. Maybe he did. What else was a young girl doing in Loki's former chambers? She raised from the bed, holding on to the notebook. 'Thank you,' she said while holding out her hand. 'I promise I will use your knowledge wisely.' He took her hand and shook it. They both headed for the door. In the hallway she wanted to move on as he had to turn right. Instead he held on to her arm so she should turn around. He looked at her with piercing eyes. But they showed happiness. 'Take good care of him. Believe in yourself, because I believe in you.'

Sarah was tongue tied. The man winked and released her. He turned away, back to the duty he already fulfilled for a very long time. She just found the truthful father of Loki. And probably Loki never noticed.

She said a short goodbye to Thor before leaving with the books and a world of new information. When she landed on the ground of England she reminded her earlier mistake. She still had to make up with Loki. The travelling had tired her a lot, but she had to carry on. It was already close to midnight again.

She walked over the fields with her mind lost in Loki's childhood. She tried to picture anything the sweet man had told her. 'You go check over there.' Sarah was so startled by the sudden voice that she fell down to the grass immediately. 'Okay, you go North,' another voice said. She crawled into nearby bushes that were quite thick. She dared to peek through them.

She had to rub her eyes to make sure she didn't imagine it. Out there, in the fields where she was usually totally alone, were more than fifty men walking around. Some tents were set up in the middle of the open field. Bright lights shone everywhere. The men were randomly walking around, clearly searching for something.

_Or someone._ Sarah dared to move a little closer in between two hills to spot the sign on the side of the tent. She clenched her teeth, trying to withhold her from screaming from irritation.

SHIELD. Who else could it be? She spotted Agent Coulson next to the tent, talking to some unfamiliar men. Oh the things she would like to do right now…

But she couldn't. There was a fear growing bigger en bigger in her. Loki. She had to get to him before they could spot her. She crawled away from the searching area to make a huge detour. Luckily they hadn't found the circle of hills yet. She ducked in quickly and ran through the hallway. Loki looked up shocked from the desk. He was busy drawing something.

'Come,' she commanded after opening the door. Loki raised slowly. 'What is going on?'

She grabbed both of his upper arms. 'Loki, I have a huge problem. And so do you. I have no choice but to trust you completely. If I can't, we are both dead. It's your choice.'

He raised an eyebrow in confusion. 'I don't understand.' She sighed and looked over her shoulder but returned back to him. 'We are caught. I don't know how, but shield is terribly close. We need to run. But you need to run with me. If you stab me in the back now, Shield will find you. Please Loki I _need _to trust you!'

Loki looked in her panicking eyes. He could just agree and not come back on it later. But that was not how he was going to do it. He wanted her to trust him. 'You can,' he said. A small smile showed on her lips. Then she closed her eyes to concentrate. The magic of the ring worked around Loki. He fell that same shock of power again. She gave him extra power.

'Now, you can create illusions again. Turn into someone else.' Loki obeyed and turned into a random young man with blonde curls and grey eyes. His total appearance changed. It surprised him that she also changed into another girl. 'How can you…' he started. 'I took a part of your power. Now let's go!'

Loki had not once seen the surroundings of his hiding spot. They were in an open grass field that had a lot of hills. When he looked up to the East he could spot a lot of big lights. She was right, they were very close. They climbed from the circle and once they were out in the open they started to run. Luckily they could both run at the speed of an immortal. Loki felt happy and scared to be out again. A part of him didn't mind staying in there, as long as Sarah would visit him enough. But they had no choice now. They ended up by a small road. In the distance Loki could spot a little shop. It must be where she got his food from. A memory shot through his head. He knew how shield found them.

'Hang on,' Sarah said. Without a question he wrapped his arms around her neck and waist. She took off with an ice ray to fly in the sky. This time it was harder on Sarah to fly with the extra weight of an immortal. She couldn't go far. She decided her house in London had to do for the night. She needed to rest.

She succeeded at landing in her street. Loki lost his grip on her and followed her the moment after. They entered the house without being seen. Inside Sarah pushed her back to the door behind her. She exhaled deeply. 'This is very scary,' she admitted breathless. Loki couldn't answer. He knew she did this all for him and couldn't stand the idea. He walked into the living room. She followed him.

'Care for some food?' she said. Before he could answer she disappeared into the kitchen to get something easy to prepare. Loki sat down on the couch, staring at the black box in front of him. 'What is that?' he asked while pointing at the TV. Sarah looked around the corner to see what he mend. She chuckled. 'That is a television. It can show movies, tv shows. It's for entertainment.'

He wrinkled his nose at it. 'I prefer a book.'

They ate in silence. She didn't turn on the TV, for he wouldn't like it. She glared at Loki several times, never getting a look back. Then she putted her soup on the table and walked over to the bag she carried. 'I got you what you asked.'

Loki looked up from his food. 'And what is that?' She dumped the bag on the couch in the middle of them. He putted down his empty bowl and searched in the bag. He pulled out a couple of his own books. His books from Asgard. He looked up at the smiling girl. 'When I said nothing Midgardians read I didn't mean you had to go to Asgard for it.' She chuckled. 'I wanted to visit Thor anyway.'

He looked down again, not wanting to let his mood change by the mentioning of his fake brother. He was very happy to find some books he always wished he had finished. He pulled out all of it when he found a familiar little notebook at the bottom.

She plucked it from his hand. 'That's mine,' she said quickly, hiding the book behind her. Loki looked up at her. 'No, that is mine.' She shuddered. 'I wasn't done with it yet.' Loki stood up from the couch. 'I don't want you to read what is my private,' he said slightly threatening. He held out his hand. 'Give it back.'

She held the book behind her back as she walked to the hall. 'Come and get it,' she teased with a naughty smirk on her face. Loki rolled his eyes. 'You are such a child.'

Sarah opened the book and started reading the poems that were written in the back. 'Like the moonlight shone down on the sparkling lake, I walked past the thick forest,' she read out. He reached forward in an attempt to grab it from her hands but she swirled around and started for the stairs. Her joy in this was hard to hide. She didn't even try. While taking the steps by two she continued. 'Then I saw her. A silver nymph raising from the water surface.' Loki tried to grab her ankles but she jumped up when he tried. He raced through the hall into her bedroom. 'She was the most beautiful person I had ever seen. I felt the urge to…' Loki finally caught the notebook from her fingers to clap it closed and put it in his pocket. He looked down with a moody grimace. Sarah breathed a little faster from the running.

'Kiss her,' she finished the poem. Now that he was leaning over her like this she felt intimidated by him again. But she didn't fear for her life, like their first meeting. Loki kept staring at her with that angry look. She didn't care and wrapped her arms around him to give him a warm hug. He sighed in surprise. 'What are you doing?' he asked a little scared.

'Everybody needs a hug sometimes,' she replied with her eyes shut, leaning her head against his quickly moving chest. Heart of frost giants didn't beat. But when she made him mortal she took the ice from his heart. It was racing at an incredibly speed now. Sarah smiled happy with what she did to him. He pushed her shoulders softly away. She faced him with that same smile. The grimace on his face had left. Surprise and confusion was shown over his face. He wasn't used to hugs.

_That had to change, _she decided. She stroked his tangled hair back behind his ear. He didn't move or flinch. 'He never blamed you, you know that?'

'Who?'

'That guard that loves you so much,' Sarah said with her attention to his hair. Loki turned completely quiet. 'You met Bernard?' he asked. She smiled. 'He never told me his name. But he had faith in you. He always had. He truly loves you. He told me it was an accident.'

'It was,' he said sharply. She looked back in his eyes. 'I know.' He seemed to relax a little. She laid her head back against his chest, letting her hands rest next to it. 'Asgard is beautiful. It would be a dream to live there.'

Loki didn't respond. He could appreciate the beautiful realm and the castle, but he didn't feel the need to talk about it with her. He wanted the focus away from his past. 'So we sleep here?' he asked.

'Yes. Tomorrow in the morning we move again. I just need to rebuild my strength now.'

Loki moved away from her, letting her hands fall limp. He turned to the hall. 'Good night then,' he said before going into the other bedroom. She could appreciate his manners, but had hoped he would sleep next to her. Apparently she was only for lust to him.

That night Sarah woke from a warm feeling. First she thought in came from inside her, but when she opened her eyes she noticed the arm wrapped around her waist. She turned around quickly to nestle against his chest. He started to protest. 'Shush,' she said before falling asleep with a smile on her face.


	16. Chapter 16: betrayal

**Chapter sixteen: betrayal**

'So, how would you describe the difference between humans and frost giants?' the interviewer asked. 'Well, for starters, we are blue. We are stronger and immortal.'

'Do frost giants ever eat humans?'

Sarah looked straight in the camera while pulling up one eyebrow. 'Only when I'm hungry,' she joked.

The sound of the alarm Tony set for his dinner broke his concentration from the TV. He had been watching several interviews about Sarah all day. He went to the kitchen to pick up his dinner. He would dine alone on the couch, for the TV. When he was finished he leaned back and stared at the high ceiling.

'Couldn't you stay?' he said to himself. 'Why did you leave? And where?' He looked back at the television. He could see the girl he adored on HD stream, but not in real life. He pulled out the little paper he held in his pocket ever since he found it.

_I'm sorry. _

'Don't be!' he yelled at the paper, like it would bring the message. He crumbled the paper in his hand and threw it on the table. Like he did every time. After some time he would pick it back up and put it in his pocket. It became a routine. He felt so bad about himself. His curiosity had taken over.

That day in the lab he had secretly placed a Shield tracking device on her back. He had followed her to England and lost her there for some time. He found it so odd. Where on earth could she have been that even Shield couldn't find her?

What he didn't know, was that Shield was watching with him. The moment he heard from Bruce that Coulson had set out for England to 'find someone' Tony had destroyed the tracker so it would fall off her back. Unfortunately Coulson already know where to search. He knew they were in the area where he had found her at the little night shop. Whatever it was she was doing there, it was her business. He didn't understand why Shield followed her so fast.

_Had she done something wrong?_ He couldn't picture it. He trusted her with his life. He had tried to contact her and Coulson, but neither would answer. He thought about flying there, but if they found Sarah, she would realize he was the reason for Shield's suspicions. He had betrayed her.

He focused back on the screen.

'And is there already a guy that claimed your heart?' the interviewer asked teasingly.

Sarah looked down and bit her knuckle. Then she chuckled. 'Nope. But I wouldn't know who would want to steal a frozen rock.'

'I do,' he whispered. He turned the TV off and stood up. A shot of pain came from his hips. The marks of her last visit had still a long time to go before they would leave. But he wanted them there. He pushed a little too hard sometimes to make sure they would stay longer. Apart from the insulting piece of paper it was all he had of her.

His phone buzzed in his pocket. He picked it up and pressed the screen. 'Stark,' he said.

'Tony it's Bruce. Shield calls us in the helicarrier. Apparently there is a new threat we need to check out. They want us as soon as possible.'

'Okay. Tell them I will be there tomorrow,' he answered dryly. Bruce sighed. 'They mean now.'

'I know. That's why I'm there tomorrow and not next week.' He hung up without waiting on response.

A new threat. He wasn't really in the mood for fighting. But maybe it was better to get his mind somewhere else. He picked up the piece of paper to put it back in his pocket.


	17. Chapter 17: on the run

**Chapter seventeen: on the run**

The next morning Sarah woke up in the same position she felt asleep. Against Loki's chest. She looked up to his resting face. He could be so peaceful this way. She reached up to kiss his forehead.

'We need to go, don't we?' he said. She wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled his face into her chest. 'Yes we do.'

She released him and stepped out of the bed. She threw her sleeping shirt and trousers on the ground. Loki watched her back carefully. She stopped on the threshold of the room with one hand on the frame. She looked at Loki. 'Do you wish to join me in the shower?' Loki chuckled. 'I will never understand you I guess.' She walked on. 'No you wouldn't!'

After a 'refreshing' shower they packed some basics to carry on. Loki collected the books and the notebook he was not giving her back. He also secretly putted the other notebook in he grabbed from his cell. She better not knew of that one at all. When they transformed and ready they left the door. First they had to get somewhere without people. After that she could take off. So far she hadn't regretted giving Loki his powers partly back, neither did she had a reason to distrust him. When they entered the edge of the neighborhood they saw a Shield car along the road. Sarah pushed Loki in his side to show him. 'Act normal.'

They passed by the vehicle without being questioned. Sarah let out a sigh of relief. 'They are so freaking close. How can they know my address so quickly?'

Sarah had to come up with a good new place. When they passed the Shield agent by far her phone started to ring. She jumped from the sound. She picked it up and saw the number of Bruce appear.

'Don't. They probably can track you,' Loki warned. She declined the call. A little later she received a text message.

_Hey Sarah, It's Bruce. Shield asked for a gathering in the helicarrier. There is some sort of new threat. Come as quickly as possible._

Sarah stared at the message. Was this about herself? 'I don't understand. How did they find me? And most important: do they know what my secret is? How could they know about a threat? You aren't even a threat!'

'Shh,' Loki warned when someone looked in her direction from across the street. Sarah calmed down. 'Now, do you know a good place to go?' Sarah nodded. 'It's going to require a made up story, but I have an idea.'

'That's all the information for today. You can carry on making your homework now,' Mr. Fisher said. Jenny turned around to face Simon and Kristen. 'Hey did you see Sarah's interview yesterday?' Kristen nodded. 'Yeah I did.' Jenny clamped her hands together. 'Did you see her reaction when she was asked about a guy? She was so absolutely hiding something!' Kristen shuddered. 'I didn't really notice.'

They talked a little more before the teacher pointed them at their homework. Halfway class there was a knock on the door. 'Come in,' the chemistry teacher called. An unfamiliar boy of their age walked in, followed by a girl that turned around to close the door hastily. Jenny looked up when she recognized the girl. In fact the total class did.

'Sarah?' Kristen said as first. Sarah looked around to find her old friends. She smiled at them. 'Hey guys. How are you doing?' Everyone was tongue tied. Sarah walked up to her old teacher. 'Mr. Fisher, I must ask you if he can join your class for today. No one should mention him to anyone. Pretend he isn't even here.'

'W-why?' the teacher tried. Sarah sighed. 'I can't really explain. But you can trust me.' Sarah took the disguised Loki by his arm and let him towards her friends. Their eyes grew large. 'I need you to look out for him. Don't mention him to anyone. Act like it's the most normal day. Please, I need to ask this of you.'

Simon shook his head. 'Who is he?' Sarah placed a hand on his shoulder. 'This is Tom. And he needs my help. Without it terrible things will happen.' She saw the three of them swallowing. She bowed over the table. 'Did you ever have the reason to not trust me? I saved the world remember?'

They nodded. 'Okay. How long will he stay?' Jenny asked. Sarah thought for a moment. 'I don't know. Just take him to every class today and call me when I'm still not here. Okay?' They nodded again. She turned to Loki. 'You stay with this three people. Don't run. It will end bad.'

'Where are you going?' he whispered. She looked straight in his fake eyes. 'I'm going to ask why they follow me.' Loki's face turned angry. 'No. It's too risky.'

'Trust me,' she whispered while looking in his eyes. He tried to stand his ground but knew he didn't have any power over her. 'Not for me,' he tried.

She took his hand. 'Not just for you. Both of us.' With that she hugged him quickly and left the room. Everyone still stared at her. 'You can go on,' she ordered.

Once outside she looked up to the sky. 'Now,' she opened her hands, 'Why do you follow me Coulson?'


	18. Chapter 18: trust

**Chapter eighteen: trust**

The huge flying base was already in Sarah's sight. She flew to the top to take one of the doors inside. She whirled around the halls, now familiar with their destinations. She reached the control room. Once the doors opened and revealed a not so happy Sarah, everyone froze in shock. She saw that everyone was already there, apart from Thor. Even Coulson was there again.

'Sarah,' Fury started. She putted up a hand to shush him. She looked with furious eyes at the man with the eye patch. 'Why,' she started, trying to get her anger under control, 'Is my neighborhood surrounded with Shield agents?'

Sarah didn't notice that Tony's face turned red and his eyes looked down. Fury and Coulson exchanged a look. 'I will tell you if you tell where you were two days ago. You disappeared from the radar.'

Sarah's eyes widened. 'Radar? Are you tracking me?!' she spat. Steve and Bruce looked up at Fury. 'Are you tracking us?' Steve asked, feeling betrayed.

'No we are not. But Sarah held a tracking device that evening. We happened to pick up its signal, because it was from Shield. We saw you over England, and a moment later you were gone. After that you reappeared. There is no place on earth where you can get lost from out radars.'

_Except in your own facilities, _she thought. But she said something else. 'And can you tell me how this tracking device magically appeared on me?'

'We don't know,' Fury said. It turned silent. Sarah tried to calm down before she would freeze everyone. 'And what happened with: hey Sarah, I called you because you disappeared of the radar? Why did you have to pull out an entire force?'

'Because we thought you did something secret and illegal,' Coulson said. Sarah snorted. 'Sure. And putting tracking devices on people to throw their life at a chaos is totally legal. You wanted to know where I was? In Asgard.'

Everyone looked at someone else. 'Asgard? But you were back so quickly,' Coulson protested.

'Thor had called me in for a quick question. That was all. After that I came back. There is not really something like a phone connection between the realms.'

Everyone looked down. She looked around at everyone. She noticed Tony only now. He looked down with the reddest and most sleepless face she ever seen on him. She swallowed when she realized he was the one that tracked her. He looked up at her for a second. When he saw her angry glare he quickly looked back down.

'Nevertheless,' Sarah said, 'If you pull your forces back I am willing to help you on this new threat. Or was I that threat?'

'No. There is a new person that already killed a couple of people. They've gone missing. Witnesses tell he doesn't look human. We only want our strongest force on this, which is you,' Fury said.

Sarah really wasn't interested in all the information they started to discuss. She listened to them with no patience. But leaving now would raise suspicion. Tony glanced at her every once in a while. When she looked back he broke their eye contact immediately. _You really fucked up Tony._

'So, how do you know Sarah?' Jenny asked after she left the classroom. The boy hadn't said a lot so far. He didn't look at her when he answered. 'I think I better not tell you too much. Let's just say it is not safe for you.'

Jenny looked down, a little disappointed. Kristen also gave it a try. 'Okay, are you at least okay? I mean, is there something we should know _for _our safety?' The boy looked around with confusion in his eyes. 'How do you mean?'

'Well, in case you are some sort of hulk.' The boy smiled for the first time. 'No. Nothing like that. I'm not a threat for you. Only the people that are behind me.'

'OMG, there are people following you?' Simon asked in shock. Tom sighed. 'Yes. That's why Sarah putted me undercover in this place.' Jenny's mind worked quickly this time. 'Undercover. So, this is a disguise?'

He looked at her with surprise. It could mean she was right. That he never expected her to guess that. He coughed and looked away. 'No, not like that. Just amongst people of my age. I mean, I'm no student here.' Jenny nodded slowly. She wouldn't say he lied because what he said made perfect sense, but something about his first expression made her doubt.

After this day of high school Loki really longed back to his quiet cell. There were young running and screaming children, first years, and gossiping teenagers that never shut up. He was luckily with three people he could make sense of, but he would personally not have chosen them to be his friends. But they were quite cheery like Sarah. What he couldn't understand, is how she could sit through this super basic lessons. Day in day out. For centuries. That girl is insane.

Finally there came an end to it when the last class was over. They stood in the main hall, all with jackets on. 'I'll call Sarah,' Jenny said.

Sarah heard her phone buzz in her pocket. She excused herself and walked away from the control room.

'Hello?' Sarah asked.

'_Hey Sarah, it's Jenny. It is the end of the school day. You told me to call you.' _

'Yes, yes indeed. I'm still not close, so I must ask you to hold on to him a little longer. Would it be a problem to take him home with you?'

There was some discussion in the background. '_Yeah that is no problem. How long do you think it will take you?' _

'I can't really tell. It could be running late. When you are done with him just…I don't know…put him on the street or whatever.'

She heard her friend laugh. _'Yeah no way I'm doing that to him. Hey, he told me you are running from someone. You can stay for the night at my house if you want.' _

Sarah bit her lip. 'That would actually be very great. But I can't ask…' '_Nonsense. You stay at my place tonight. See you later!' _With that she hung up.

'It seems the two of you found yourself a bed for the night,' Jenny said cheery. Loki wasn't really waiting on a longer time with this people, but it was probably this or under a bridge. He forced a smile. 'Thank you. I'm very grateful for your generosity.'

A blush crossed her cheeks. 'Oh don't mind it,' the brunette said. She tried to hide her unease with the formality he used. 'We will stay as well,' Kristen said. It putted Jenny at ease to not sit alone with the odd boy. Loki had to admit he also liked it better.

Sarah drummed with her fingers on the table. Her patience had a limit. And they crossed it two hours ago. 'So about the navigation…' Fury started a new topic. Sarah jumped from her seat. Everyone looked up at her. 'I have to leave now. I still have some things to do. Someone will update me later about the things that are actually important. Only call me in again when you found this threat and want me to rip his heart out. Until then, goodbye.'

No one stopped her from walking out of the room. After a moment Tony shot out of his chair and started to run after her. She was already by the door to the roof. 'Wait!' he called out. Sarah turned around, clearly not amused.

'What?' she asked annoyed.

Tony tried to catch his breath. 'I…I'm sorry.'

Sarah looked away from his eyes. He continued. 'I just wanted to follow you that night. I had no idea Shield was watching! I swear! The moment I heard Coulson was tracking you I destroyed it.' Sarah closed her eyes in an attempt to control her anger. 'It was wrong of you to track me this way. I have a personal, very complicated life that I wish to keep separate.'

Tony nodded. 'You are right.' She looked at him. 'Just don't do it again.' Tony crossed his fingers. 'Promised. Your business is not mine.' She exhaled a little of her tension. But she knew it was only getting worse. He wouldn't drop their night together.

'About that night…' he started as she predicted. Sarah walked up to him to put her hand over his mouth. 'Here is what matters. I was drunk. You were drunk. I know you…fancy me, but I don't fancy you. I'm sorry. I see you as a very good friend and ally, but nothing more. I'm incredibly sorry about that night, I should have controlled myself. Please, as you think back of it, don't see it as something romantic. Just a lust urge. I believe you aren't foreign with one night stands.'

Tony pulled her hand away. 'No, but I never worked so hard on a friendship and…I hoped relation to let it end in something like that.' Sarah sighed and dropped her face. 'I can do nothing else than apologize and let things be easy on you to not visit anymore. Give my apologies to Bruce for not finishing the investigation. And sorry for bruising you. Are you in a lot of pain?'

Tony looked up while his head hung a little. 'Yes. In my heart.' Sarah let a deep sigh out. 'What can I do to make this easy on you?' Tony looked away for a moment. 'Stay with me.'

'I can't…'

'Why not?' he nearly screamed. Sarah had to think of something that would make sense. 'Firstly, I'm a frost giant.' Tony tried to protest but she didn't let him. 'What means that I always, in every touch with you, have to hold myself back. You see what I can you when I'm drunk. Imagine me when I'm angry beyond reason. I would kill you. Secondly, even if you would protest with 'I don't care'…I do. Because there is no fun in a relationship that I can't totally go up in. I'll live a forced life. Thirdly, and maybe most importantly, I don't love you! You can't force me too!'

Tony finally seemed to understand. He sighed and fought back some tears. Sarah did feel sorry for him, but there was simply no way she could give him what he wanted. Not even when she wasn't slowly falling for Loki. Tony coughed the tears away. 'You are right. Again. I-I'm sorry. I will do my best to stop my feelings.'

Sarah half laughed half cried when she pulled him into a hug. 'Please try. Because I do like you as a friend,' she whispered. He held in in a tight grip before letting her go. He wasn't capable of speaking again so she left him that way. She opened the door and took off. A couple of tears froze on her face into snowflakes.

Loki sat on the couch while the other three were sitting in the armchairs. They chatted along about school, boys, clothing…normal things. At first he found it odd that they discussed all this in the presence of the guy, but he changed his opinion when he said himself 'that guy is so cute' about some random person. Loki tried to find peace in one of his books he brought. He found it hard to concentrate with the corny teenagers around him. Then he heard a familiar sound from outside. 'She is back,' he stated in the middle of a small silence. 'How do you…' Jenny couldn't finish her sentence when the doorbell rang. She got up to open the door for Sarah. Kristen and Simon looked at him in awe. 'Hey everyone,' Sarah greeted. She looked at Loki. She could read on his face that he was totally done with the people he had to spend the day with. She mouthed 'Sorry'. He gave her a small smile in return. They all sat down. Sarah sat next to Loki. 'Are you okay?' she asked as if she didn't already know.

'Yes,' he half lied. She placed a hand on his leg. 'I won't leave you again. Not in this situation.' Loki seemed a little satisfied with that. 'So, did you find new information?' he asked.

'Loads,' she answered with an angry undertone. 'I have bad news.'

'What's that?' Loki asked. She looked into his eyes, mentally preparing him for it. 'So I spoke with them today. I gave them a quite believable explanation. They promised me to lift the surveillance around my house…'

'But they didn't,' he could finish. She shook her head. 'Why does no one listen to me when I ask for peace?' Loki looked at her with a 'not funny' look. Although she mend it quite serious.

'So you are still running?' Jenny asked. Sarah and Loki looked up at the same time. 'Yes,' Sarah confessed. Loki looked back at the other frost giant. 'Can you handle more bad news?' Sarah looked at him and sighed. 'What now?' He looked at his hands. 'I'm not strong enough to hold this much longer.' Sarah face palmed herself. 'I should have thought about that! How long do you guess?'

Loki chuckled without humor. 'I'm already on far resources of my strength. So I would say, an hour ago?' Sarah fell down in the couch while covering her face with a pillow. 'This day can't be worse!' 'I don't understand,' Kristen started. 'Sarah this is all very confusing.'

Sarah removed the pillow. She sat right up and stared at the far wall. 'We should trust them.'

'Are you sure? We can still run. I don't think it's a good idea to tell,' Loki protested. Sarah looked at him. 'I trust them. And I don't think Shield would hurt innocent humans.''

'Shield?' Jenny picked up. 'Shield is behind you? I thought you worked with them!'

The three people now looked at Sarah with other eyes. 'Look guys, this will sound absolutely crazy, and maybe it is, but you need to let me explain it.'

'Explain what?'

'Running very short now.'

'Hold on a little longer. Look, when I was at the battlefield, something happened. I defeated an enemy and I literally held his life in my hand. I was the fate over life and death and I couldn't do it. I couldn't kill him. So I took him as a prisoner and stripped him off his powers. He…' she looked at the fake face. 'He changed.' Loki looked up at her.

'Who is he really?' Kristen asked.

'Yep, I'm done,' Loki said. He breathed heavily when the green gleam formed around his form. He turned back in himself. He looked up at the three teenagers with exhausted eyes. They gasped at the same time.'

'That's…' Simon started, 'Loki,' Jenny said.

Sarah and Loki shared a glance. Neither was sure how they would react. 'He's a frost giant that was raised in another realm. He is like me. Only bad things happened to him.'

None of the three seemed to know a word to speak. Loki looked down. 'I understand you see me as a criminal. And I can't deny I started a war on earth…twice.' He swallowed. 'And I still don't know why she didn't kill me, but it means she sees something no one else does, not even me. She might be crazy and stupid, but as a friend you should trust her judgment.'

They were all petrified with his words. Sarah chuckled a little. 'I would be crazy and stupid if you ran away today. But you didn't. You didn't hold him in chains or anything. Still here he is, sitting out a dreadful day to wait for my return. The Loki on the battlefield wouldn't have done that.'

Kristen was the first to break free from her trance. 'So, you are changing him in…a better person?'

'No,' Sarah said right away. 'I'm remembering him of the real him.' Loki looked at her. She could almost swear she saw the eyes water a little.

'Okay,' Jenny said while throwing her hands up. 'You are right. We should trust your judgment. Now, please explain the total story.'

The rest of the afternoon and evening Sarah spend on telling her friends on all the events since the battlefield. She left away the part where they had sex. Not only with Loki, but she also failed to mention her drunk night with Tony. Later in the evening they laid a group of matrasses on the floor of the living room. The three friends slept next to each other, with Sarah and Loki at the opposite side. They sat in a circle on the beds when they continued stories about Asgard and Jotunheim. Sarah had already listened enough today and was very tired. She let her head rest on Loki's shoulder. He flinched from the touch. She knew he did it as to show like it was something new. When she laid down like that a dreadful smell of sweat came from his shirt.

'Urgh you stink,' she complained. He rolled his eyes. 'I had to concentrate all day long,' he argued. 'Can he take a shower?' Sarah asked Jenny. She nodded. Loki got on his feet and moved away. Her friends watched him leave carefully.

'So you like him?' Jenny said the moment she heard the door from the bathroom close. Sarah tried to deny but the look on her friends face told her she better didn't. 'Fine! Damn how do you see that every time?' Jenny grew a large smile. 'You are easy to read around men. But tell me! Are you guys together?'

Sarah shook her head. 'No, nothing like that. It's…complicated.'

'Uhuh,' Jenny teased. Sarah gave her a threatening glare. 'You better not show him. I'm trying to break him, but it definitely isn't easy.'

Jenny held her hands up. 'I wouldn't speak.'

Loki returned and it was Sarah's turn to shower. She would have loved to take it together with him, but not here. When she came back down she saw Loki leaning against the wall next to his bed, reading a book. She had to suppress a giggle when she saw his tangled hair. He looked up for a moment and gave her a small nod and a wink. She was so happy she didn't blush. She sat down next to him. 'Jenny do you have a hairbrush?'

Jenny reached out to give one to her. Everyone expected her to start on her own hair, but instead she grabbed Loki's shoulders and turned him around. 'No,' he warned. 'Shush,' she said in return. She started to ran the brush through his entangled locks. 'Auch!' Sarah rolled her eyes. 'Don't whine big baby.'

She saw all three grinning. At least they didn't see him as a murderer anymore. They better had a picture like this in their head. Loki only didn't seem amused. He whined by every tug. When it was finally smooth again she dropped the brush and ran her fingers over his head. Her friends settled down in their beds at this point, not really minding the two frost giants anymore. Loki enjoyed the feeling. He tried not to sigh. She looked over at her friends, who weren't watching, and pressed a kiss in his neck. 'You look beautiful again,' she whispered. He chuckled. 'Your turn.'

He picked up the brush and did her hair. He moved very carefully through her hair. She let him, no matter she wouldn't feel it if he did it harder. She was faced toward her friends, so they couldn't see that he stroke her back with his other hand. She really started to believe he cared for her. Why would he otherwise still be here?

Sarah and Loki fell asleep in no time while the others kept on talking. They curled up in each other as they slept. Jenny watched the two monsters with a smile on her face. 'I understand her,' she said. Kristen, who was only half awake murmured a sleepy reply. With that also Jenny went to sleep.


	19. Chapter 19: a heart for a heart

**Chapter nineteen: a heart for a heart**

The next morning Sarah rose from the smell of baked eggs. Jenny had given them a wonderful breakfast. After that Loki and her dressed up and packed. They left early in the morning, putting up the illusions over them. Sarah thanked her friends while Loki muttered a word of appreciation. They left the door to go to the next hiding spot. Once outside the wind blew violently and Loki´s skin filled with goose bumps.

´What now?' he asked while rubbing his upper arms.

Sarah shuddered. 'We could always head out for a hotel. My house here is inhabited with my fake parents and I can't face them.'

'Luckily, because I can't stand another day with these mortals.' Sarah looked annoyed by his spotting tone over her friends. 'I prefer to be with you,' he added. That made it better for Sarah.

She searched in her bag for a vest and offered it to the fake Loki. They moved out to an open field and took off. They went to New York. Sarah thought it was hard to find someone there, and a part of her hoped it would break the god of mischief further. Loki sighed when he recognized the skyline. They went to a hotel that was somewhere high in a tower. Loki stood by the window and looked out over the city.

'You have a strange sense of humor.'

Sarah chuckled and wrapped her arms around his waist from his back. 'I thought you would like to watch out over the city.'

Loki turned around to hold her against his body. Sarah was so grateful he finally accepted a hug. He inhaled the scent of her hair. 'I missed this. Just you and me,' he confessed.

'You are still my prisoner.'

'I know. But it's the best place I've been.'

Sarah looked up in his eyes. 'Really? You prefer your limited power and a run from Shield above your time in a palace? The life of a prince?'

He smiled a warm smile. She had yet to see him like this. 'I prefer you over my brother and every Asgardian.' Sarah nearly started crying.

'In fact I prefer you over everyone,' he whispered in her ear. She searched his eyes for lies. Nothing could be found. 'What does that mean?' she breathed.

Loki his hands reached for her face to cup it. He stared at her with an intense look. It was not lust. It was passion. Love.

'It means I love you,' he said. Sarah smiled and let a tear leave her eye. 'I love you too,' she finally confessed to him and herself. She stood on her toes to kiss him. Her arms wrapped around his neck. His hands held her waist now to lift her up. She placed her legs around his hips. The movement broke the kiss. She looked in his eyes as he looked back.

'Please never leave me again,' Loki pleaded. 'Please never turn into a war criminal again,' she said, a little scared of his reaction. Instead of getting angry, he smiled happily. 'I promise. You were right. You do have the power to turn me back. Only you did. Thank you for having faith in me.'

Sarah couldn't think of anything that would ever make her happier than these words. She reached for his lips again. The wonderful thing about their kisses now was that it wasn't only depending on lust. It was true love.

Loki walked into the bedroom with Sarah still clung to his body. He let her carefully fall down on the bed. He quickly crawled over her. He wanted to reach down for another kiss, but Sarah stopped him.

'What's wrong?'

She laughed hard. 'Nothing! There is absolutely nothing wrong!'

'Then why don't you let me kiss you?'

She stroked his cheek with the back of her hand. 'I think you first have to cool down.'

Loki tried to ask what she mend, but she held her hand over his mouth. She closed her eyes and pulled on the ring. Everything that was left in it she ordered to go back in its formal owner. Loki screamed at the energy rush. He sat right up as his body gleamed. It was so bright that Sarah had to shield her eyes. When it was done he was turned in his blue form. Sarah reached up to throw his shirt away. She admired his pale, blue chest, marked with dark lines. She matched her skin tone with his. He pulled her shirt over her head and threw it away. This time he didn't rip anything. It meant he wanted to make it smooth and lovable, other than rough. He released her from her bra and took her pants and underpants down. She also removed all of his remaining clothing and climbed on top of his lap.

'I never felt like this before,' Loki admitted.

'Like what?'

'I can't really explain. I am so happy. Like…I finally found where I fit.'

Sarah stroked his hair from his neck and started giving tender kisses. 'We fit together. We are the same, remember? It's the same reason I didn't mind being your slave. You accepted my terrible side.'

'Your beautiful side you mean,' he said with a smile. She laughed and moved her hips so he could enter her. The feeling made her throw her head back. This time they would go slowly. So they would have all time to watch and feel each other. Loki held her hips and made her move in a slow pace, but every time she would shove down his total length so the end was a gulf of pleasure. She moaned from happiness. Loki kissed her again, opening their mouths after a moment. Her hands ran through his hair and over his back.

After some time Loki pushed her down in the bed to hang over her. He started to thrust harder, a sign of his climax coming. She knew she was also close.

'I love you so much,' Loki said truthful. 'As do I,' she breathed. One last thrust…Loki screamed out when he came and spilled his seeds in her. The feeling made her come a moment later. He moved out of her to lay down next to her. They faced each other, different from their previous sessions.

'What are we going to do?' Sarah said a little unhappy. Loki looked away, caught by her mood change. 'I don't know. No one is going to believe I've changed. I don't think anyone will forgive me.'

Sarah looked up to the ceiling. A memory crossed her mind and a wide smile crossed her face. 'That is not entirely true.' Loki wanted to ask about it, but they were disturbed by the sound of her phone. She groaned when she reached for it in her trousers.

'Yeah?' she asked annoyed.

'_Sarah this is Fury. The threat is found in a suburban neighborhood. I will send you the coordinates, get there right now. The others are also moving.' _

He hung up first. Sarah shot up and started to collect her clothing. 'What is it?' Loki asked.

'Shield. They need me to defeat a villain.' Loki looked down, not liking the word. Sarah was fully dressed when she climbed on the bed to give him a kiss. 'After this, I will quit doing anything for Shield and we are going to start a live together. But I have to finish this.'

'You better come back, I need you.' He kissed her like it was their last. Sarah pulled back and laughed. 'No one can defeat me. Not even the ruler of Asgard and Jotunheim, the great Loki Laufeyson.' Loki suppressed a smile and nodded her goodbye.

Sarah walked in the street where she saw Tony in his suit, Natasha, Clint and Steve. They saw her approaching. 'No threat yet?' she asked.

'We know they are coming for us,' Clint answered. Sarah pulled an eyebrow up. 'They?'

'It appeared that these people weren't killed, but turned into monsters. It is impossible to turn them back, so our order is to kill them,' Natasha answered. Steve clearly showed he didn't approve, but he didn't protest. So apparently there was no other way.

'Where is Bruce?' she noticed. 'He didn't come. We thought we could handle this with just us, and he would only bring more damage,' Tony said without facing her. She nodded. 'Okay I'm up to date. Now where are the cowards?'

Before someone could answer a ray of darkness hit Sarah in the chest and threw her over. The event was followed by a high shriek. Sarah came back on her feet, pissed off. A figure came from around the corner. Suddenly everywhere around them came flying demons. They shrieked like the first one they heard. They didn't look like humans, but more a sort of monsters. The man was cloaked. When he threw the cloak from his head they saw a half metal, half leather face. It was nothing she had ever seen or heard of before.

'Who are you?' Steve called out. The man smiled a hideous smirk. 'It doesn't matter. But if you call me something, I'll be your undoing.'

They stood in a circle, facing the monsters creeping closer. It was a little army that filled in the street. 'Well, I'm not waiting any longer,' Sarah said. After that she threw a ray of ice out to the first line of creatures. They froze in their place. It unleased an attack of all the creatures upon the heroes. They set out to battle. Sarah froze as many as she could, slamming the ice sculptures to pieces. It was enough to let them die. She ripped out their dripping hearts. She decapitated some with the knives she took with her. The creatures kept coming but it didn't scare them. Everyone kept fighting. Sarah lost sight of the leader, but he was either watching his army do the work or busy with one of the others.

'We need more soldiers!' Steve screamed after he smacked two demons to the ground with his shield. Natasha reached for her earpiece. 'We need backup! Bring in Bruce!'

She had to stop when the next one attached her. Sarah saved Clint one moment when he wasn't paying attention. He thanked her with a little nod. The wave of monsters started to get thinner. Most were fallen to the ground by now. After a little longer Sarah was left to one more monster, scratching his nails over her face.

'Oh no you didn't!' She tore his heart out and cut his head off, more from anger than was necessary. She tried to catch her breath for a moment before turning around. Only when she did a sharp pain came in her chest. She faced the figure that had his hand around her heart. The others all stared in terror.

'Now you're not so tough anymore,' He hissed. Sarah let tears float from her eyes.

_It can't end now! _She thought. 'Please,' she tried weakly.

'Let her go!' Tony yelled. The only reaction was a tighter grip on her heart, starting to squeeze it. She cried out from the pain. 'NO!' Tony cried.

That was it. She could never be happy. Most importantly, she broke her promise with Loki. She wouldn't return. 'I'm sorry Loki,' she whispered. No one heard her. 'Now, you had your last moment,' the man said. He squeezed and everything went black. Then suddenly she heard a roar and something kicked the man away from her. She fell to the ground, limp.

_Maybe it wasn't on time. _


	20. Chapter 20: there is no place for us

**Chapter twenty: there is no place for us**

Sarah drifted through an endless place of light. There was nothing, just light. She heard a voice in the distance. It sounded familiar. She didn't respond to the sound and kept on drifting. She was so tired. _Maybe I would sleep a little, _she thought. The voice became louder and she heard the desperate tone in it. She grunted. Everything was so peaceful, yet someone disturbed it. Then there was a pain in her chest. It started as an annoying itch, but it grew more and more intense. 'No,' she mumbled.

'SARAH!' the voice screamed in her head. She pressed her eyes shut. 'Go away,' she murmured irritated. 'Sarah wake up!' She got really annoyed now. She tried to scream back but something held her down. A pressure fell over her body and mind. The pressure got heavier and heavier. She tried to breath but couldn't. She needed to burst away from this. In one moment she pushed all her strength in and opened her eyes while inhaling deeply. She looked up at the sky. The pressure was still there, and so was the pain. She looked over at the face above hers. It was Bruce. Not like the hulk, but his normal self.

'Sarah!' he screamed with a smile. The others were not in her sight. She lolled her head to the side and spotted the others fighting with the alien man. Everything came back to her memory. She looked back at Bruce. He held her head up from the cold ground.

'W-what…' she tried, too tired to end her sentence.

'Shush,' he said calmly. 'We will take care of you.' She turned her head back to the battle. The man laid on his back now. Tony stood over him, his fists pointed at him. 'This is for Sarah you freak!' He fired all of his little rockets at the same time. The figure screamed for a moment. The moment later he exploded in a thousand pieces. The others turned back to Sarah. She tried to sit up. Bruce helped her stand up, leaning against him. Only when he flinched she noticed the huge cut running over his stomach. He must have battled the man when he knocked him away from her.

'B-Bruce,' she said, pointing at his wound. 'Don't worry about me,' he whispered. Then she realized something.

He was himself. Not the Hulk. Only as the Hulk he was strong enough to kick the alien over. And this cut would absolutely angry him enough to turn green. She looked back in his eyes. For only a moment they turned from their normal color to a bright green tone.

'Loki?' she breathed. He nodded a very small nod. She couldn't believe it. He must have followed her. He saved her. Without him she was dead now. He ran into battle with his enemies to save her.

Her eyes grew even larger. This cut must be exhausting him. 'How much…longer?' she asked. He looked painful. 'Not very long. We need to get out.' She knew all of this was too much to hold up the illusion much longer.

'Sarah!' Tony cried. He steadied her. In the corner of her eye she saw Loki's lips press together. This was a dangerous position.

'I'm…alright,' she breathed. She tried to smile but failed when it pained her. 'We need to take you back to the base,' Steve said.

'N-no,' she said with a stern look. 'I will recover. Immortal.'

'Nevertheless someone better look at your wounds,' Clint said, taking a better look at her with blood leaking chest. She pushed herself away from Bruce – Loki – to steady herself. Everyone reached in her direction to catch her might she fall. 'No,' she said steady this time. 'I will go to Asgard. The healers there will do a better job.'

'The travel will tire you far too much,' Bruce said softly. She turned around to look in his serious eyes. There was no way he would let her. She gave him an angry look. Didn't they need an escape?

'I'm here guys!' a familiar voice shouted from across the street. All the heads turned in his direction. Sarah's eyes grew large, nearly popping out.

_Damn. _It was the real Bruce. He jogged towards the party. No one said a word, lost in confusion. 'I'm too late I see,' he said a little apologetic. Everyone stared at him with huge eyes. 'What?' he asked. Then he spotted himself. Now all the heads turned to Loki.

'What the hell?' Tony said, his voice cracking. Natasha and Clint turned their weapons in Loki's direction. 'Who are you?' Natasha screamed.

Loki seemed lost. He looked at the real Bruce, hoping there was a way they would suspect him to be the fake one. But he knew he had given himself away by not turning into the green version. That was a mistake.

'The real Bruce could never go into battle like himself!' Steve said, now standing in the same battle position as the other two. Only Tony was still petrified. Sarah feared he already figured out who it really was. Steve took a step closer to the fake Bruce. Sarah moved in between quickly. Her movement startled everyone.

'What are you doing?' Tony asked scared. 'Stop,' Sarah said to Steve. 'Not one step closer.' Loki grunted behind her. The wound was weakening him. Her secret would end here. She knew there was no way out.

'Why are you protecting this fake person?' Steve asked, still in front of her. 'He saved me,' she tried, 'This is not the way to thank him.'

'But it's not the real Bruce-,' Steve started. 'The real Bruce,' she screamed in his face, 'was too late! I would be dead right now if we depended on the real Bruce or any of you!' The desperation in her voice was clearly displayed. Her eyes watered from pain and anger. She was tired beyond possible and yet she had to fight her friends when necessary. She would no doubt fight with Loki.

'Sarah,' she heard a weak voice say behind her. A hand was placed on her shoulder. 'I'm nearly fainting.'

'Who is this?' Natasha repeated.

'I knew one person to pretend to be anyone else,' Tony said while looking down. He looked up in Sarah's eyes. 'But that person is _dead.' _He hissed at the last word. He mend it to stay that way. He would like hearing another truth. Sarah couldn't answer to him. She stared into his eyes while he stared back. Slowly the realization was shown in his eyes.

'Who are you talking about?' Clint asked.

'Sarah-,' Tony said threatening.

'He saved me,' she answered.

'He is supposed to be dead-,'

'I wasn't even there-,'

'Thor killed him-,'

'He sacrificed himself for me, look at the cut-,'

'You hated him-,'

'I did, but-,'

'You are so not defending him-,'

'Can you two stop that!' Steve screamed out in annoyance. 'Just tell the truth!'

They all looked at Sarah now. A tear of anger left Tony's eye. 'He changed. I changed him. I turned him back in the innocent boy he once was. He deserves another chance, and I am giving him that.'

'WHO?!' Steve cried. 'Sarah,' Loki whispered. She turned around. The fake Bruce breathed heavily, his eyes showing emptiness. He was very close to passing out. But that wouldn't happen when he dropped the illusion. A green gleam formed around his body. He shone for a moment. After that moment he revealed himself. The real Loki Laufeyson.

He looked up at the Avengers. Steve, Natasha and Clint were caught with shock. 'He can't be…he is dead,' Steve whispered.

Loki looked very tired. All the wounds he received as Bruce he still carried. He wound in his stomach soaked his green shirt in red blood. Little cuts were in his face and over his arms. He was too weak to heal them now.

'No,' he said, looking at Steve, 'I'm not.' He showed an angry face. Sarah was more than displeased with it. 'Loki,' she breathed. He looked at her, but his expression didn't change.

'I can't believe you!' Tony shouted out, causing Sarah to turn around to him. 'How can you possibly be protecting this _monster?_ He captured you, he lied to you, he _raped _you, he tried to kill you and this total planet, twice for God's sake, and _still_ you protect him?! Still you care about him?!'

Sarah couldn't really respond. He was right. Only he could never see what she saw. Tony walked up to her and grabbed her upper arms to shake her. 'Wake up Sarah! You let this man live so he could break anything again! He isn't interested in you or turning good. He simply finds a way back to rule this place!'

He shook her harder than he mend. It was starting to hurt her.

'Put her down,' Loki said with a suppressed anger. Tony released her and turned towards Loki. 'You care what I do to her?'

Loki took a couple of steps closer to stand face to face. Even with his suit on, Loki was at the same level as Tony. 'I do. I care for her. She did change me. I want to do everything for her. I want to show the best side of me. But I will also always protect her. Different than you, I just saved her from a heartbreak. And you know what? I did before. You only hurt her by giving in to your desires. She felt so miserable. Luckily I was there to comfort her. I will always be there to comfort her. I will never give up on her. You simply do not fit in the picture.'

That was it for Tony. He pushed Loki back. He stumbled over and fell to the ground. Tony stood over him with his palm aimed for the God. 'STOP!' Sarah screamed. They forgot she was even there. She moved in front of Tony and pushed his hand away from her man. 'Stop it! You let your judgment be clouded by your feelings for me! He might be putting it in different words but he is right! You do not fit in the picture! It is time you realize that we are never going to be together!'

His expression turned totally the other way. He looked surprised and hurt. Mostly hurt. She saw his eyes water and tears falling. Maybe she had gone too far. But she was happy she said it nevertheless. He needed to realize this. Tony took a couple of steps back with the others. Sarah helped Loki back on his feet. Loki wrapped his arm around her waist. When it wasn't already, now at least it would be clear that they were lovers. That Loki found something that was more important than ruling a world.

For a moment Sarah thought they would accept them. But the look in their eyes changed.

'It doesn't matter,' Natasha said with a deep voice, 'He is still a criminal. He needs to be punished.'

Sarah sighed. All she wanted was to fall asleep here and now. She wanted Loki and her to be safe and together. She now realized that her earlier plan of hiding on this planet was not an option. This place would always judge Loki with the only memory they have of him.

They needed to go somewhere where they could forgive him. With time, yes. But it would be possible. Someone that could forgive him. Sarah smiled. She already thought of this earlier, but she was sure now. Loki wouldn't like it in the beginning, but she was sure he would give in.

'We will leave,' Sarah said. 'You will never see us again.' Loki looked at her, wondering what she had in mind.

'No you wouldn't. He belongs in prison,' Clint said. The four of them moved forward, ready to fight until death. Loki and Sarah were in no position to outmatch them. Sarah didn't even try. She wrapped her arms around Loki's waist and buried her face in his chest. He laid his head on hers.

'I love you,' she said.

'I love you too, forever.'

They closed their eyes, ready for the impact. But it didn't happen. 'What are you doing?' they heard Tony say. Sarah looked up to watch at the back of Bruce. He stood in between them, protecting the two frost giants.

'You do not listen,' he said. 'He saved her. I couldn't. I was too late.' He turned around to face the two. 'I do not believe he changed yet, but I do believe you can do that. I believe you truly care for each other, and that is the important thing here.'

Sarah couldn't believe the luck she found herself in. She nodded and smiled at him. 'Thank you.'

'Do not disgrace my trust,' he said softly. He looked at Loki now. 'And mostly not hers.'

Loki nodded at him, thankful. 'I promise.'

'Then go!' Bruce said. Sarah looked up at the sky. 'Heimdall! Open the Bifrost for us!'

They took a step back to not suck the others in the ray of light that formed around the two. At her last moment on earth she looked at Tony. She did feel sorry that she lost her friend. She blew him a hand kiss just before she was gone into space.


	21. Chapter 21: to be complete

**Chapter twenty-one: to be complete**

Thor paced back and forth in the throne chambers. He didn't know what to do. It was only two hours ago now when Heimdall had told him Loki was going to be exposed. He didn't know when or how, but he told Thor he needn't interfere. He had protested, telling that anyone would kill him by the sight of his little brother alive. Heimdall had said that he wouldn't die.

He wanted to go to Midgard to ask Sarah what had occurred but he couldn't put himself to it. From that moment he decided that a servant had to wait by Heimdall, might he pick up new information. He boy only entered the castle once to tell him Heimdall saw nothing new. Just that it was critical he had to show himself.

That was an hour ago now. He waited for the boy to enter the castle again. He was already five minutes late. In his time of waiting his friends tried to calm him or trick him for pleasantries while he waited. Thor wanted none of it. All he wanted was the update on his brother.

He had said to Sarah that he wanted Loki dead. That he didn't deserve another chance. That idea had only been in his mind because the humans brought it there. These agents had said his time was over. Thor had listened to them, but in his heart he could never have knocked the last breath out of his brother. At the battlefield he was glad that Sarah was in the position to do it. If his brother had died there, it was only fair it was by her hand. But she decided different. She decided to let him live. She wanted to change him back to the brother he had lost a long time ago. Thor wanted that too. He wanted so much to believe in the abilities of the gorgeous frost giant. He hoped for her to succeed.

But his mind told him not to rely on that too much. There was a huge chance it wouldn't work. And either she would kill him nevertheless, or he would break free and continue to spread misery. He wanted none of that to happen, but it was very likely.

Yet he had noticed something odd. The servant that always had been very close to Loki in the past was very cheerful the days since the visit of Sarah. Thor had asked him what he felt jolly about, but all he would say was 'I bet you already know, my king.' Thor could only guess Sarah told him that Loki was alive. But why was he happy about that? Didn't the poor man loose a hand because of his brother? Unless Sarah would have given him hope that Loki could change back.

Thor could only hope. And wait. He waited another ten minutes.

'Thor?'

The sudden voice so close startled him a little. He turned around to see Lady Sif standing in the shade of a massive pillar. Thor sighed. 'I told you before I'm not interested in pleasantries, Sif. I need to hear more about this…issue.'

He hadn't told anyone that his brother was still alive. Not even his closest friends. It was simply not safe. Sif looked down and played with the fabric if her tunic. 'The council asked when they could expect you in. You need to decide in the question of the marriage.'

Thor grunted. 'How do they dare ask my opinion, again? Isn't it clear I would want my own wedding to happen? You can tell them it will happen, with or without their approval.'

'You know I can't,' she simply answered. He knew. They would only want to hear it from him, to tell him for the thousands of times that no Midgardians were allowed in Asgard. Let alone becoming the queen.

He became more and more frustrated. The council was annoying him more than ever and the servant didn't return for a new update. What could possibly hold him up? He had ordered to come back every hour. The Bifrost wasn't that long. With his mind full he didn't even notice how down Sif was. She felt terrible about the marriage. Secretly she had still hoped he would choose for an Asgardian wife. Her. But he didn't. He wanted a Midgardian instead. That idea was not only ridiculous in the ears of the council, but also in hers and in every other Asgardians. But Thor wouldn't listen to any of that. She knew he wouldn't. When he wanted something, he wouldn't change his mind simply.

'I will go investigate,' Thor said after a minute. 'Something must be up.'

'Thor wait. What is so important that you need an hourly update?'

Thor turned around. He looked at Sif, trying to find fitting words. 'It is of great importance to me. Something personal.'

'You've changed,' Sif murmured when he wanted to walk away again. Thor raised an eyebrow. 'How do you mean?'

'Since you're king you feel like you have to do everything by yourself. But you have friends and family…' Thor looked down at that word. Sif held her hands up. 'I'm sorry I didn't mean it.'

Thor walked back at Sif. She watched with nearly watering eyes. Thor placed his hand on her shoulder while watching her with truthful eyes. 'I'm not mad. If only I still had my family. But I don't. This, what Heimdall have seen, could give me a piece of family back. That's why it is so important.'

Sif looked at him with confusion. 'How?' she asked. Thor shook his head. 'I can't start to explain-,' He started.

He stopped talking by the sound of the great gate to open. He turned his head, searching for the servant. But it wasn't the servant that walked through the door. It were two persons instead.

Both of them were covered in blood. Cuts were all over their bodies. Their clothing was torn to tatters. The girl was missing one shoe. But despite a clear story of battle and pain their faces didn't show any of it. The girl only showed clear happiness. She was at a point of breaking into a waterfall of tears. The boy, on the other side, looked difficult. He didn't dare to look up at the king of Asgard. There was pain in his eyes, but it wasn't as from battle. No physical, but mental pain.

But the first thing Thor noticed, was that they were holding hands. It didn't take him longer than two seconds to run towards the two of them. He stopped just in front of the two, who stopped as well. Thor couldn't speak. He couldn't believe what he saw in front of him. With his own eyes.

Loki still didn't look at him. He swallowed deeply and looked up, tears standing in his eyes. 'Thor…I-,'

He didn't need to finish. Thor grabbed his brother in a bear hug. The tears streamed down his and Loki's face. He knew Loki had changed. He needn't apologize. He already knew how his brother felt. Loki breathed uneven. 'How…how can you forgive me so easy?' His brother said through his sobs.

Thor placed his hands on Loki's shoulders to face him. The smile couldn't leave his face anymore. 'I have forgiven you a long time ago, Loki. You are, no matter where you come from, and will always be my brother. And I love you unconditionally.'

Loki couldn't stand the sight without breaking out in an uncontrollable cry of tears. He reached for his brother to hug him once more. 'I love you too,' he said with a broken voice. The stream of tears from Thor's eyes thickened at that moment. Never had he felt so happy. He truly had his brother back.

Thor opened his eyes to see the girl still watching the beautiful scene with an even wet face. The smile on her face told enough. She chuckled when she saw Thor looking at her. He broke free from the hug to give her one. 'I know all of this wouldn't have happened without you. I'm eternally grateful, my lady Frostblossom.' She held him even tighter than he held her. 'He did it himself in the end,' she whispered.

Thor opened one arm to pull in Loki in the group hug. The sight was so odd: three totally different persons from different realms cut open from battle and crying hugging each other. But there existed no better moment for the three of them. They released each other to wipe their tears away.

'You should probably see the healers,' Thor said while coughing his unsteady voice away. Sarah waved his concern away. 'That can wait. We are immortals, not to forget.'

Thor smiled. 'You should tell me anything that occurred,' he insisted.

Loki chuckled. 'We will. But all of that can wait over dinner. Now, before we ask you any other favor, we need to start with the most important one.'

Thor crossed his arms over his chest. A smile on his face. 'Tell me.'

Loki pulled Sarah to his side with an arm over her shoulders. 'My intended and me would want nothing more than to live back in the castle with our brother.'

Thor's face dropped in surprise. He laughed out loud at the hearing of his brother to get married. 'I wouldn't want anything more as well! Feel welcome, brother and sister!'

Once more they ended up in a group hug. It would take time to heal all the scars from the past, but slowly, this would be the start of a new family. And it would never break again.


	22. Chapter 22: epilogue

**Chapter twenty-two: epilogue**

'Angela catch!' Mike shrieked before the threw the football through the cafeteria. It landed in her tray of food that splashed into all of her friends, including herself. She let out a high yell.

'Mike! You idiot! You totally ruined my new shirt!' she shouted in anger. Now she was making a scene. All the other high school students were now looking at her. Mike held up his hands. 'I'm sorry Angela, but you should have caught it!' He spotted, causing his friends to laugh at her.

She cooked with anger from inside. 'You wait until my father hears about this!' All the boys stopped laughing at once. Mike looked like he just saw a ghost. Then a nervous smile formed on his lips. 'Well, that isn't necessary, is it? There is no need to talk about this again. You know what, I'll buy you a new shirt!'

Angela shifted her weight to one leg to push out her hip. She placed her hands on her hips. 'You do that. And it better be something pretty and expensive.' Mike nodded fiercely before turning red and sitting down again. Angela groaned when she threw away the football.

'OMG Angela! It's so cool how only the mentioning of your father can shut everybody up!' one of her friends praised her. Angela smiled proudly. 'I know. I have that power.' The girls laughed with her. They gossiped along after the incident. After some time the doors of the cafeteria swung open. Everyone went silent at first, to continue on a whispering mode.

In the entrance stood a boy, seeming at the age of seventeen, with intense black hair that waved around his face. His eyes were a mixture of blue and green, but beautiful nevertheless. His clothing looked neat, nothing like the teenagers here wore. He looked around, scanning all the faces. He held his gaze on Angela, who stared back tongue tied.

'He is looking at you,' her friend whispered. 'He looks so hot!'

But Angela already didn't listen anymore. The boy was moving in her direction. All the eyes were on him. A small smile played on his mouth. He stopped next to Angela.

'Angela Stark?' he asked in an angelic voice. The girls on her table squirmed to be noticed. But he didn't leave her eyes with his. All she could do was nod. He smiled, showing his teeth. Jeez, they were perfect. 'Can I lend you for the rest of the day?' he asked charmingly. There was no way she could say no. 'I have school-,' she started, no idea why she cared about that. He held up his hands. 'Don't worry, I took care of that.' He held out his hand to her. 'Are you coming?'

She took his hand and raised in silence. She followed him out of the school, followed by every pair of eyes in the school. 'Who are you?' she asked when they were outside. He walked up to her pink car. 'I wish to meet your father,' he said friendly. Angela sighed. She could have known it was all about him once more. There was only one person that loved the spotlights more than she did, and it was Tony, her father.

'Oh,' she answered shortly while stepping behind the wheel. He sat down next to her without making a sound. He looked so different. There was something about this boy. He was too…perfect.

'I'm here,' the blonde man called out when he entered the huge mansion that belonged to Mr. Stark. He had heard this was Steve Rogers, the last person he had to collect.

'Good,' he said, 'Thank you for coming.' Everyone faced him now. 'Who are you?' Steve asked. He smiled. 'My name is Leroy. I'm here in the name of my parents.'

Everyone looked at each other for a moment. He was familiar with all the people here, although they didn't know him. His parents had told him the wonderful stories of these heroes. Tony Stark, the multimillionaire looked a little older than the pictures his mother had of the group. A couple of grey hairs were visible along his dark brown ones. Steve Rogers, or Captain America, still looked a lot like what he knew of him, only a few more wrinkles were in his face. Bruce Banner, or the Hulk, was fully grey by now. Nevertheless he still looked like a big threat when he was your enemy.

Leroy chuckled when he saw Clint Barton and Natasha Romanoff stand next to each other a little awkwardly. His mother had spoken about their relationship that only they were not aware of, and the moment he saw them he understood what she mend.

The outsider of the company was Feya Iglea. He was told it was his aunt. She looked as young as his mother did.

'And who are your parents?' Feya asked. He smiled in her direction, but looked over at every pair of eyes. 'Mom, dad?' he said calmly.

They looked behind him to see if someone would walk through the door. But they didn't. Instead outside a ray of light shone down into Tony's backyard. Three figures remained after the light disappeared.

Thor, Loki and Sarah walked through the glass doors to enter the mansion. All three of them were holding a smile on their face. He heard Feya gasp behind him.

Sarah looked in the elder faces of her once companions. She had missed them so much over all these years. A part of her was afraid she wouldn't be welcome anymore. But the smiling, bright Loki on her side made her a little more confident. Feya was the first to burst forward and tackled Sarah. She started to laugh at the sight of her niece.

'Sarah!' she cheered. 'Hello little niece of me. Have you missed me?' After a long moment she let go of her to watch her in the eyes. 'You haven't aged a day,' she said. Sarah laughed. 'Neither have you.'

'Wow now I feel old,' Tony joked a little. Feya stepped aside to greet Loki so Sarah could walk up to him. 'You are old,' she remarked, 'Look at you! Don't you even dye it?' she picked out one of his grey locks. 'I do, but it grows to fast.'

Sarah laughed and pulled him into a hug. Tony enjoyed her scent for a moment. It was a moment of realization that it would have been a big problem if he could ever have had her. He would die before she looked thirty.

Sarah went to hug all of them, excited to see them back. So far she was able to control her tears. After an icy start everyone managed to hug Loki. The warmth that he showed was enough to meld their cautious eyes. Leroy walked over to his mother. She placed her arms around his neck and kissed his forehead. 'Thank you Leroy. Now, how is it to meet your heroes?'

He turned around in her arms. Everyone was looking at the boy. 'Great! Although they are a bit older than you told me.'

The three older Asgardians chuckled at the same time. 'That is because they grow faster than you do, my boy,' Thor said. All this time Thor had been the uncle every boy could wish to have. He took him on hunting trips with the warriors Three and showed him the advantages of being king. Loki was the perfect father for him, teaching him magic and how to control his frost giant side. The boy had grown with the ability to freeze things very easily. He never caused a lot of trouble. Not unwillingly, anyway. When he hung with his friends in the city of Asgard he was just as naughty as his father. Often a furious citizen would rush in the castle, telling a story of how he released someone's chickens or managed to break the funding of a stand. Leroy had grown up in happiness. When he was older Loki took a moment to sit with him and tell him about his dark past. Leroy had cried, but he understood after a day. He loved his father nevertheless.

Sarah had told him bedtime stories about the great Avengers, a group of superheroes. He always wanted to become a hero, like his uncle. Loki didn't like the stories at the beginning, but the way his son reacted on them made him surrender. Soon he started telling them as well.

Thor had married Jane Foster, a human he met on Earth. A lot of people couldn't accept her, and it was still an issue to walk through the city without the venomous looks and hissed whispers. But Sarah loved her like a sister. So far they hadn't thought about a child, but were sure to take one, one day. Leroy had always looked forward for a niece of nephew.

Sarah had hoped Feya could give him one, but she explained how she hadn't taken the time for love. She worked full time for Shield now, saving the world. She had dated another agent for some time now, but she didn't want it to be too serious.

The group of people had sit down for the endurance of the day to talk about everything that occurred. She had told her niece of her wedding, telling every detail on how Loki was more involved in the process than she was. The laughter it unleashed from everyone made her feel a little more comfortable to sit here with their enemy. They seemed to have forgotten all about his terror over a couple of glasses of wine. She placed her hand on his and smiled up at him. He leaned down to kiss her. She was aware of most of the eyes upon them, and it pleased her. They had to see how loveable he was now.

When the dark fell the four of them stood up. 'We need to go back,' Thor explained. 'Asgard is waiting for its royals to return.'

The others nodded. They all bed farewell. Even Loki received warm hugs and wishes for a happy life. Sarah looked down when she had to break the news. 'This was the last time we will visit you,' she confessed. A silence fell over everyone. 'What? Why?' Tony asked.

Sarah shook her head and forced a smile. 'You are all aging so much faster than we do. We better hold this memories of all of you. I wouldn't want to return and have such a meeting when one fails to come because old age took him or her…No. It is better to cut our bonding here and now. It was a wonderful life knowing you all. Thank you for everything, and I wish all the luck and happiness for you.'

Feya cried a little. 'You are always welcome to visit Asgard,' Loki told the frost giant. She shook her head and hugged herself. 'I choose to live on earth, amongst humans. If you bed them farewell, then you do so for me.' Sarah nodded and pulled her in one final hug. 'I love you,' she told her niece. 'I love you too. Don't forget me.'

'Never,' Sarah promised her.

She released her niece and walked away while waving at everyone. Outside they faced the others until the light took them back to Asgard. Back to their happy lives.

The end


End file.
